title: Living Arrangements and Psychological Well-Being of the Older Adults After the Economic Transition in Vietnam.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We examine the relationship between living arrangements and psychological well-being of the older adults in Vietnam, where there is an influence of Confucian values and a lack of close substitutes for family care of the older adults, by exploiting a great deal of regional variation in economic development. We also examine the role of living arrangements in well-being differentials across regions.
  
  
  METHODS
  We estimate a triangular simultaneous-equation discrete-response model, which accounts for the simultaneity between living arrangements and psychological well-being (happiness, depression, loneliness, poor appetite, and sleep disorder), using a nationally representative sample of 2,225 adults aged 60 and older drawn from the 2011 Vietnam Aging Survey.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Intergenerational coresidence significantly increases the psychological well-being of the older adults in Vietnam. The results are fairly robust, even after taking quasi-coresidence into account, decomposing the psychological well-being index into each affect and symptom, and splitting the sample by gender.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Changes in living arrangements induced by differences in labor market opportunities in neighboring regions have resulted in significant differences in psychological well-being among the older adults. The findings point to the need for attention to the mental health of elderly parents left behind in less economically developed regions.
authors: Faculty of Economics, Kyoto University, Japan. School of Economics and yamada@econ.kyoto-u.ac.jp.
authors: Ken
authors: K
authors: Yamada
authors: School of Social Sciences, Singapore Management University.
authors: Bussarawan
authors: B
authors: Teerawichitchainan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D057217:Economic Development; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008603:Mental Health; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014744:Vietnam
keywords: Elderly left behind; Intergenerational coresidence; Internal migration; Psychological well-being