Differential impact of intergenerational support on urban and rural older adults’ life satisfaction in China
en-GBde-DEes-ESfr-FR

Differential impact of intergenerational support on urban and rural older adults’ life satisfaction in China

15/04/2025 TranSpread

The rise in the aging population is occurring worldwide. In China, with rapid economic and social changes, the family structure and pension mode for older adults have substantially changed. In turn, the status and role of intergenerational support in family pensions have also been modified.

In a study published in Healthcare and Rehabilitation, a team of researchers explored the current impact of intergenerational support on the life satisfaction of older adults in China. They analyzed 7,825 individuals from the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) for the study.

“Intergenerational support is an essential informal form of social support that refers to the exchange of resources between children and their parents within the family,” explains lead author Jie Zhang. “They are usually divided into financial, instrumental (e.g., life care, household tasks), and emotional support.

Life satisfaction is an individual’s overall subjective evaluation of life and constitutes a key dimension of subjective well-being, and is an essential component of the psychological health and well-being of older adults. Given the influence of the dual urban-rural structure, a large gap exists in the level of economic development and cultural traditions between urban and rural areas, and differences in lifestyles and pension concepts are also present.

In particular, the researchers found that urban older adults’ life satisfaction is higher than their counterparts in rural areas, and the influence of intergenerational support on life satisfaction differs between urban and rural areas.

“Rural older adults who receive financial support have lower life satisfaction, whereas the receipt of emotional support was positively related to life satisfaction,” says Zhang. “Life satisfaction among urban older adults was influenced only by instrumental support, the less instrumental support older adults receive and the more instrumental support they provide, the higher their life satisfaction.

In other words, the positive impact of intergenerational support on older adults may no longer involve simple reciprocity or feedback but rather more altruistic characteristics and the pursuit of higher-level needs, such as love, respect, and self-actualization.

###

References

DOI

10.1016/j.hcr.2024.100011

Originlal Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hcr.2024.100011

Journal

Healthcare and Rehabilitation

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hcr.2024.100011
Paper title: The impact of intergenerational support on older adults’ life satisfaction in China: Rural-urban differences
Attached files
  • The impact of intergenerational support on urban and rural older adults' life satisfaction in China.
15/04/2025 TranSpread
Regions: North America, United States, Asia, China
Keywords: Health, People in health research

Disclaimer: AlphaGalileo is not responsible for the accuracy of content posted to AlphaGalileo by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the AlphaGalileo system.

Testimonials

For well over a decade, in my capacity as a researcher, broadcaster, and producer, I have relied heavily on Alphagalileo.
All of my work trips have been planned around stories that I've found on this site.
The under embargo section allows us to plan ahead and the news releases enable us to find key experts.
Going through the tailored daily updates is the best way to start the day. It's such a critical service for me and many of my colleagues.
Koula Bouloukos, Senior manager, Editorial & Production Underknown
We have used AlphaGalileo since its foundation but frankly we need it more than ever now to ensure our research news is heard across Europe, Asia and North America. As one of the UK’s leading research universities we want to continue to work with other outstanding researchers in Europe. AlphaGalileo helps us to continue to bring our research story to them and the rest of the world.
Peter Dunn, Director of Press and Media Relations at the University of Warwick
AlphaGalileo has helped us more than double our reach at SciDev.Net. The service has enabled our journalists around the world to reach the mainstream media with articles about the impact of science on people in low- and middle-income countries, leading to big increases in the number of SciDev.Net articles that have been republished.
Ben Deighton, SciDevNet

We Work Closely With...

  • e
  • The Research Council of Norway
  • SciDevNet
  • Swiss National Science Foundation
  • iesResearch
Copyright 2025 by AlphaGalileo Terms Of Use Privacy Statement