TY - JOUR
T1 - A Vignette Study of Older Adults' Preferences for Intergenerational Transfers in the Context of Competition between Grandparents and Grandchildren in Rural China
AU - Cong, Zhen
AU - Silverstein, Merril
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.
PY - 2019/2/15
Y1 - 2019/2/15
N2 - Objectives The objective of this analysis was to examine older adults' preferences for economic support in the context of competition between grandparents and grandchildren for the middle generation's financial resources in rural China. Specifically, it examined how relative need, lineage, and gender of grandchildren depicted in a vignette were evaluated and how personal characteristics of the evaluators influenced beliefs for which generation should receive more support. Method The sample consisted of 989 older adults participating in three waves of a longitudinal study in Anhui Province, China. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to examine how older respondents evaluated the relative priority of grandparents versus grandchildren in their claim for monetary assistance using a hypothetical vignette with randomized conditions. Results Relatively greater need of either the vignette grandparent or grandchild increased their priority to receive economic support. The vignette granddaughter was most disadvantaged in the competition with her paternal grandparent. Respondents who were single, in worse functional health, and whose children all migrated gave the vignette grandparent greater priority; those who coresided with children gave the vignette grandparent lower priority. Discussion Findings support the altruistic perspective on filial support and the corporate group/mutual aid model of family functioning, within the family system that differentiates patrilineal from matrilineal lines of descent. Under budget constraints, selective children are considered to have legitimate claims on the resources of the middle generation, tempering filial piety toward aging parents. Lack of personal resources plays a role in whether self-interest shapes beliefs that favor older over younger generations.
AB - Objectives The objective of this analysis was to examine older adults' preferences for economic support in the context of competition between grandparents and grandchildren for the middle generation's financial resources in rural China. Specifically, it examined how relative need, lineage, and gender of grandchildren depicted in a vignette were evaluated and how personal characteristics of the evaluators influenced beliefs for which generation should receive more support. Method The sample consisted of 989 older adults participating in three waves of a longitudinal study in Anhui Province, China. Multinomial logistic regression was applied to examine how older respondents evaluated the relative priority of grandparents versus grandchildren in their claim for monetary assistance using a hypothetical vignette with randomized conditions. Results Relatively greater need of either the vignette grandparent or grandchild increased their priority to receive economic support. The vignette granddaughter was most disadvantaged in the competition with her paternal grandparent. Respondents who were single, in worse functional health, and whose children all migrated gave the vignette grandparent greater priority; those who coresided with children gave the vignette grandparent lower priority. Discussion Findings support the altruistic perspective on filial support and the corporate group/mutual aid model of family functioning, within the family system that differentiates patrilineal from matrilineal lines of descent. Under budget constraints, selective children are considered to have legitimate claims on the resources of the middle generation, tempering filial piety toward aging parents. Lack of personal resources plays a role in whether self-interest shapes beliefs that favor older over younger generations.
KW - Chinese families
KW - Filial piety
KW - Intergenerational relationships
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U2 - 10.1093/geronb/gbx062
DO - 10.1093/geronb/gbx062
M3 - Article
C2 - 28531324
AN - SCOPUS:85061591025
SN - 1079-5014
VL - 74
SP - 496
EP - 505
JO - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
JF - Journals of Gerontology - Series B Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences
IS - 3
ER -