title: The role of children's support in elders' decisions to live in a yanglaoyuan (residential long-term care) : children's support and decision to live in a yanglaoyuan.
abstract: The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of children's support in elders' decisions to live in a yanglaoyuan (residential long-term care) in Shanghai based on their intentions and actual experiences, drawing on both quantitative and qualitative data. The 2005 Shanghai Elderly Citizen Longitudinal Tracking Study (SECLTS) examines a stratified sample of community-dwelling elders and their intention to live in a yanglaoyuan (N = 1,512). Eleven semi-structured, retrospective interviews described how children participated in residents' decision-making to live in a yanglaoyuan. Logistic regression analyses reveal that satisfaction with children's support-financial, instrumental, and emotional-is negatively associated with respondents' intention to live in a yanglaoyuan. Higher levels of respondents' satisfaction with their children's support are associated with lower levels of intention to live in a yanglaoyuan. Such support, however, does not necessarily determine elders' decision to live in a yanglaoyuan. Qualitative analyses suggest that children participated throughout residents' actual process of deciding to live in a yanglaoyuan. Children helped residents to make the decision to live in a yanglaoyuan. Residents reported how their children contributed to instrumental support to face family caregiving challenges and how they experienced and shared the emotional process in the decision-making. Quantitative and qualitative findings complement each other to provide a holistic understanding of the role of children's support in elders' intention to live in a yanglaoyuan, as well as in their actual decision-making experiences. These findings also suggest the evolving nature of children's support in family caregiving in contemporary Chinese society.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Welfare, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. lynnchen@ucla.edu
authors.forename: Lin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Minzhi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ye
mesh_terms: D032721:Adult Children / Q000523:psychology*; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China; D003657:Decision Making; D005195:Family Relations; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D033182:Intention; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D016015:Logistic Models; D008134:Long-Term Care / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires