Adult Children’s Care for the Elder Parents at the End of Life in Rural China: Study based on a long-term longitudinal Survey

Stanford University presents a lecture on China's aging population and end-of-life care.

Shuzhuo Li
Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

Dongmei Zuo
Institute for Population and Development Studies, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, China

RSVP at: http://asiahealthpolicy.stanford.edu/events/registration/7681/

Lunch will be provided

Because of declining fertility rates and growing life expectancy, China will have one of the world’s oldest populations by mid-century. Accelerated population aging, in concert with changes in family structure, growing urban-rural differences, and limited availability of formal services, have emerged as major social policy issues. Using a life course perspective, this talk will report on factors affecting children’s care of older parents at the end of their parents’ lives. Analysis of longitudinal data from rural Anhui province between 2001 to 2012 reveals that care is affected by the birth order of the child, physical distance, and the dynamics of intergenerational exchange, consistent with traditional “filial piety and fraternal duty” norms, as well as strategic allocation of resources throughout the family system. Migrant children face competing obligations, while the negative effects of the sharp decline in fertility on older parents seems not as severe as might have been predicted. Migration counterbalanced gender division of children in terms of end-of-life care.