Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vvkck Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T00:59:08.546Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Continuous versus changeable: transitions in older parents–adult children relationships in Chinese families

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2024

Ruyue Deng Open the ORCID record for Ruyue Deng [Opens in a new window] ,
Shiyuan Yan Open the ORCID record for Shiyuan Yan [Opens in a new window]  and
Jun Yao
Ruyue Deng
Affiliation:
School of Health Policy and Management, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Shiyuan Yan
Affiliation:
School of Health Policy and Management, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
Jun Yao*
Affiliation:
School of Health Policy and Management, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China Jiangsu Provincial Institute of Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
*
Corresponding author: Jun Yao; Email: yaojun@njmu.edu.cn
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The traditional model of family relationships is undergoing significant changes in contemporary China. Nevertheless, little research has delved into the dynamic evolution of intergenerational relationships. To address this research gap, we utilise data from the Chinese Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) conducted between 2016 and 2018 (N = 7,009) to analyse the transitions in intergenerational relationships over a two-year period, alongside the predictive factors. Employing Latent Transition Analysis, we unveil three distinct typologies: ‘Tight-Knit’, ‘Intimate-Distant’ and ‘Ambivalent-Distant’, which undergo changes over time. Our study captures the tendency of the integration of tradition and modernity within intergenerational relationship patterns in China, as well as the intricate dynamics of these relationships. Furthermore, we identify the predictive roles of age, gender, household registration, health conditions, life events, family composition and filial piety on relationship transitions. This study expands upon previous typological research on intergenerational relationships and enriches our comprehension of their intricate and dynamic nature.

Keywords

intergenerational relationshipsolder parentsconvoy model of social relationsLatent Transition Analysis
Type
Article
Information
Ageing & Society , First View , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antonucci, TC (2001) Social relations: An examination of social networks, social support, and sense of control. In JE, Birren and KW, Schaie (eds), Handbook of the Psychology of Aging, 5th ed. San Diego, CA: Academic Press, pp. 427–453.Google Scholar
Antonucci, TC, Birditt, KS, Sherman, CW and Trinh, S (2011) Stability and change in the intergenerational family: a convoy approach. Ageing & Society 31, 1084–1106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Atchley, RC (1989) A continuity theory of normal aging. The Gerontologist 29, 183–190.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baltes, PB (1987) Theoretical propositions of life-span developmental psychology: on the dynamics between growth and decline. Developmental Psychology 23, 611–626.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, VL and Oyama, PS (2010) Intergenerational solidarity and conflict. In Cruz-Saco, MA and Zelenev, S (eds), Intergenerational Solidarity: Strengthening Economic and Social Ties. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 35–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bengtson, V, Giarrusso, R, Mabry, JB and Silverstein, M (2002) Solidarity, conflict, and ambivalence: complementary or competing perspectives on intergenerational relationships? Journal of Marriage and Family 64(3), 568–576. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2002.00568.x.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carstensen, LL, Isaacowitz, DM and Charles, ST (1999) Taking time seriously. A theory of socioemotional selectivity. American Psychologist 54(3), 165–181. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.54.3.165.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chang, K-S (2010) The second modern condition? Compressed modernity as internalized reflexive cosmopolitization. British Journal of Sociology 61, 444–464.Google Scholar
Chen, B (2009) Change of inter-generational relations and the elderly suicide: an empirical study in Jingshan county, Hubei province. Sociological Studies 4, 157–176.Google Scholar
Collins, LM and Lanza, ST (2010) Latent Class and Latent Transition Analysis: With Applications in the Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc, pp. 1–295. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470567333.Google Scholar
Cui, Y and Jin, X (2015) Intergenerational relationship in migrant families in the context of rural to urban migration: a typological analysis. Population Research 39(3), 48–60.Google Scholar
Damman, M and Duijn, RV (2016) Intergenerational support in the transition from work to retirement. Work, Aging & Retirement 3(1), 66–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downey, DB (1995) When bigger is not better: family size, parental resources, and children's educational performance. American Sociological Review 60, 746–761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dykstra, PA and Fokkema, T (2011) Relationships between parents and their adult children: a West European typology of late-life families. Ageing & Society 31, 545–569.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Elder, GH (1987) Life course dynamics: trajectories and transitions, 1968–1980. Social Forces 66, 587–588.Google Scholar
Elder, GH, Johnson, MK and Crosnoe, R (2003) The emergence and development of life course theory. In Mortimer, JT and Shanahan, MJ (eds), Handbook of the Life Course. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Boston, MA: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48247-2_1.Google Scholar
Fuller-Iglesias, H, Smith, J and Antonucci, T (2009) Theories of aging from a life-course and life-span perspective: an overview. Annual Review of Gerontology and Geriatrics 29, 3–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fuller, HR, Ajrouch, KJ and Antonucci, TC (2020) The convoy model and later-life family relationships. Journal of Family Theory & Review 12, 126–146.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
George, LK (1986) Caregiver burden: conflict between norms of reciprocity and solidarity. In KA, Pillemer and RS, Wolf (eds), Elder Abuse: Conflict in the Family. New York, NY: Auburn House Publishing Co, pp. 67–92.Google Scholar
Giarrusso, R, Silverstein, M, Gans, D, Bengtson, VL, Johnson, ML, Coleman, PG and Kirkwood, TBL (2005) Ageing parents and adult children: New perspectives on intergenerational relationships. In Johnson ML (ed), The Cambridge Handbook of Age and Ageing, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 413–421. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511610714.043.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goode, WJ (1963) World Revolution and Family Patterns. Oxford: Free Press Glencoe.Google Scholar
Guo, M, Aranda, MP and Silverstein, M (2009) The impact of out-migration on the inter-generational support and psychological wellbeing of older adults in rural China. Ageing & Society 29, 1085–1104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, M, Chi, I and Silverstein, M (2012) The structure of intergenerational relations in rural China: a latent class analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family 74, 1114–1128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guo, Q, Xie, Y and Li, S (2020) Types of intergenerational relations of the famlies and its differences between urban and rural areas. Journal of Huazhong Agricultural University (Social Sciences Edition) 6, 120–127. https://doi.org/10.13300/j.cnki.hnwkxb.2020.06.014.Google Scholar
Ha, J-H, Carr, D, Utz, RL and Nesse, RM (2006) Older adults’ perceptions of intergenerational support after widowhood. Journal of Family Issues 27, 3–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, X (2008) Change of generation relationship in rural households and its influence. Jianghai Academic Journal 4, 108–113.Google Scholar
Hogerbrugge, MJ and Silverstein, MD (2015) Transitions in relationships with older parents: from middle to later years. Journals of Gerontology: Series B 70, 481–495.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hu, Y and Shi, X (2020) The impact of China's one-child policy on intergenerational and gender relations. Contemporary Social Science 15, 360–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Q, Peng, DU and Chen, G (2017) The typology of intergenerational relations between adult children and older parents. Population Journal 4, 102–112. https://doi.org/10.16405/j.cnki.1004-129X.2017.04.010.Google Scholar
Ji, Y (2017) A mosaic temporality: new dynamics of the gender and marriage system in contemporary urban China. Temporalités 26. Available at https://doi.org/10.4000/temporalites.3773.Google Scholar
Jingbo, XU (2017) Rural family separation and elderly suicide in context of labor migration. Journal of Northwest A & F University 2, 66–72. https://doi.org/10.13968/j.cnki.1009-9107.2017.02.09.Google Scholar
Kahn, RL and Antonucci, TC (1980) Convoys over the life course: attachment, roles, and social support. In Baltes, PB and OG, Brim (eds), Life-Span Development and Behavior. New York: Academic Press, pp. 253–286.Google Scholar
Lanza, ST, Dziak, JJ, Huang, L, Wagner, A and Collins, LM (2015) PROC LCA & PROC LTA users' guide (Version 1.3.2). University Park: The Methodology Center, Penn State.Google Scholar
Lin, XS (2018) Changes in China families in the past forty years of reform and opening-up: trajectory, logic and trend. Journal of Chinese Women's Studies 5, 52–69.Google Scholar
Lin, CZ and Marin, A (2022) When life happens: a multidimensional approach to studying the effects of major life events on relationship change. Advances in Life Course Research 54, 100501.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, W (2017) Intergenerational emotion and solidarity in transitional China: comparisons of two kinds of ‘ken lao' families in Shanghai. Sociological Studies 4, 145–168. https://doi.org/10.19934/j.cnki.shxyj.2016.04.007.Google Scholar
Liu, J, Guo, M, Xu, L, Mao, W and Chi, I (2017) Family relationships, social connections, and depressive symptoms among Chinese older adults in international migrant families. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work 26, 167–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Logan, JR and Bian, F (1999) Family values and coresidence with married children in urban China. Social Forces 77, 1253–1282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lubke, G and Muthén, BO (2007) Performance of factor mixture models as a function of model size, covariate effects, and class-specific parameters. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal 14, 26–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ma, C (2016) The structure of adult parent–child relationships in Chinese families of urban areas and effects of social class. Journal of Social Development 3, 44–70.Google Scholar
McCutcheon, AL (2002) Basic concepts and procedures in single- and multiple-group latent class analysis. In McCutcheon, AL and Hagenaars, JA (eds), Applied Latent Class Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 56–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ngan-ling Chow, E and Zhao, SM (1996) The one-child policy and parent–child relationships: a comparison of one-child with multiple-child families in China. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy 16, 35–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosato, NS and Baer, JC (2012) Latent class analysis: a method for capturing heterogeneity. Social Work Research 36, 61–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schenk, N and Dykstra, P (2012) Continuity and change in intergenerational family relationships: an examination of shifts in relationship type over a three-year period. Advances in Life Course Research 17, 121–132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, A (2012) Rethinking marital status: partnership history and intergenerational relationships in American families. Advances in Life Course Research 17, 168–176.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shapiro, A and Cooney, TM (2007) Divorce and intergenerational relations across the life course. Advances in Life Course Research 12, 191–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shen, Y (2015) New changes of intergenerational relations. Journal of Taiyuan University 2, 99–102. https://doi.org/10.13710/j.cnki.cn14-1294/g.2015.02.021.Google Scholar
Shi, J (2017) The evolvement of family intergenerational relationship in transition: mechanism, logic, and tension. Sociological Studies 4(20), 191–213. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40711-017-0068-z.Google Scholar
Silverstein, M and Bengtson, VL (1997) Intergenerational solidarity and the structure of adult child–parent relationships in American families. American Journal of Sociology 103, 429–460.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Silverstein, M, Gans, D, Lowenstein, A, Giarrusso, R and Bengtson, VL (2010) Older parent–child relationships in six developed nations: comparisons at the intersection of affection and conflict. Journal of Marriage and Family 72, 1006–1021.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinbach, A, Mahne, K, Klaus, D and Hank, K (2019) Stability and change in intergenerational family relations across two decades: findings from the German Ageing Survey, 1996–2014. Journals of Gerontology: Series B 75, 899–906.Google Scholar
Suitor, JJ, Sechrist, J, Gilligan, M and Pillemer, K (2011) Intergenerational relations in later-life families. In Settersten, R and Angel, J (eds), Handbook of Sociology of Aging. Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. New York, NY: Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-7374-0_11.Google Scholar
Suitor, JJ, Gilligan, M and Pillemer, K (2016) Chapter 10 - Stability, change, and complexity in later-life families. In George, LK and Ferraro, KF (eds), Handbook of Aging and the Social Sciences (Eighth Edition). San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 205–226. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-417235-7.00010-X.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Szydlik, M (2008) Intergenerational solidarity and conflict. Journal of Comparative Family Studies 39(1), 97–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Toyokawa, N (2012) Trajectories of Social Support in Later Life: A Longitudinal Comparison of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory with Dynamic Integration Theory, Dissertation. Oregon State University, Corvallis, US.Google Scholar
Van Gaalen, RI and Dykstra, PA (2006) Solidarity and conflict between adult children and parents: a latent class analysis. Journal of Marriage and Family 68, 947–960.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, Y (2014) An analysis of changes in the Chinese family structure between urban and rural areas: on the basis of the 2010 national census data. Contemporary China History Studies 35(4), 100–116. https://doi.org/10.1080/02529203.2014.968349.Google Scholar
Wang, Y (2015) A comparative analysis of the family structure in China's different regions: based on the 2010 census data. Population & Economics 1, 34–48.Google Scholar
Wang, N, Evandrou, M, Falkingham, J and Xu, M (2023) Typologies of intergenerational relations in urban and rural China: a latent class analysis. Journal of Applied Gerontology 42, 313–323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Whitbeck, LB, Simons, RL and Conger, RD (1991) The effects of early family relationships on contemporary relationships and assistance patterns between adult children and their parents. Journal of Gerontology 46, S330–S337.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, F (2022) Intergenerational support and life satisfaction of older parents in China: a rural–urban divide. Social Indicators Research 160, 1071–1098.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, X and Yuan, Z (2023) Understanding the socio-cultural resilience of rural areas through the intergenerational relationship in transitional China: case studies from Guangdong. Journal of Rural Studies 97, 303–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, J (2018) Attributes of elderly migrants: evidence from the 2016 MDSS in China. Population Journal 4, 43–58. https://doi.org/10.16405/j.cnki.1004-129X.2018.04.004.Google Scholar
Yang, J and Du, S (2021) Family change in China: a-70 year perspective. China Population and Development Studies 4, 344–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yuesheng, W (2017) Social transformation and its influence on the contemporary family of China. Social Sciences in Chinese Higher Education Institutions 5, 58–68.Google Scholar
Zeng, X and Li, Y (2020) Change and persistence: typology of intergenerational relations of Chinese family. Chinese Journal of Sociology 40, 190–212.Google Scholar
Zhang, WJ and Li, S (2004) An analysis of the effects of labor emigration on supporting the aged family folks in rural China. China Soft Science 8, 34–39.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Deng et al. supplementary material

Deng et al. supplementary material
Download Deng et al. supplementary material(File)
File 165.1 KB