Declining fertility rates and increased life expectancies over the last few decades have conspired to make China one of the more rapidly aging societies in the world. Aging Families in Chinese Society focuses on the accelerated social and demographic changes in China and examines their implications for family care and support for older adults.
Contributors to this landmark volume portray various challenges facing aging families in China as a result of reduced family size, changing gender expectations, rapid economic development and urbanization, rural-to-urban migration, and an emerging but still underdeveloped long-term care system. Divided into four thematic areas – Disability and Family Support; Family Relationships and Mental Health; Filial Piety and Gender Norms; and Long-term Care Preferences – chapters in this volume confront these burgeoning issues and offer salient policy and practice considerations not just for today’s aging population, but future generations to come.
Combining quantitative data from social surveys in China, comparative surveys in Taiwan and Thailand, and qualitative data from in-depth interviews, Aging Families in Chinese Societies will be of significant interest to students and researchers in aging and gerontology, China and East Asian Studies and population studies.
Introduction. Aging Families in Chinese Society Merril Silverstein Section 1: Disability and Family Support 1. Disability and Social Support Networks among Older Adults in Contemporary China Zheng Wu and Margaret J. Penning 2. Family Roles in Caring for Older Persons with Long-Term Care Needs in China and Thailand Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan 3. How Do Intergenerational Relationships Change When a Parent’s Death Gets Closer? Evidence from Rural China Zhen Cong, Yaolin Pei, Merril Silverstein, Shuzhuo Li, and Zhirui Chen Section 2: Family Relationships and Mental Health 4. Family, Friendship, and Loneliness Among Older Chinese Adults: Urban–Rural Comparisons Haowei Wang, Sae Hwang Han, Ping Xu, Jan E. Mutchler, Peng Du, and Jeffrey A. Burr 5. Grandparent–Grandchild Family Capital and Depressive Symptoms of Older Adults in Rural China: A Two-Wave Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis Vivian W. Q. Lou, Weiyu Mao, Nan Lu, and Iris Chi 6. Aging in Place? Influence of Neighborhood and Home Environments on Cognitive Functioning among Older Chinese Adults Pei-Chun Ko 7. Better Grandparent, Better Grandchild? Cognitive Evidence From Chinese Multigenerational Households Jing Zhang, Tom Emery, and Pearl Dykstra Section 3: Filial Piety and Gender Norms 8. Aging and Intergenerational Ambivalence in China: An Urban–Rural Comparison Jieyu Liu 9. Trends in Living Arrangements among China’s Oldest and Extreme Old Zachary Zimmer and Chi-Tsun Chiu 10. Gendered Time Use of Older Adults in Rural Chinese Families Zhiyong Lin and Feinian Chen Section 4: Long-Term Care Preferences 11. "Can Eldercare Facilities Be My Home?" Understanding Factors Influencing Long-Term Care Facility Residents’ Life Satisfaction in China Heying Jenny Zhan, Qi Wang, Xi Yang, and Jing Liu 12. Intergenerational Family Relationships and Their Impact on Preferences for Meeting Future Care Needs among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in Taiwan Ju-Ping Lin, Chia-Wen Yu, and Chiu-Hua Huang 13. Preferences for Institutional Care among Older Adults in China: Is Family Composition Important? Wencheng Zhang and Merril Silverstein
Biography
Merril D. Silverstein is a Professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Science and the Department of Sociology at Syracuse University, where he holds the Marjorie Cantor Chair in Aging Studies. His research has focused on aging in the context of family life, with added emphases on life course and international perspectives. He is a Brookdale Fellow and Fulbright Senior Scholar and between 2010 and 2014 served as editor-in-chief of Journal of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
