Examining the prevalence, risk and protective factors to family caregiving in China: findings from CHARLS

ABSTRACT

Based on role theory, this study aims to explore the prevalence of informal caregiving to either a parent/parent-in-law or grandchild in China and to examine the association with depressive symptoms. The OLS regressions were used to identify factors associated with depressive symptoms. Data from the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) was used. Twenty-six per cent (26%) cared for an elder for an average of 4 hours/day. Nearly half (46%) provided care to a grandchild for an average of 8 hours/day. Caregiving duration, co-residency and the health of the care recipient were associated with depressive symptoms. Intensity and duration were associated with grandchild caregivers’ depressive symptoms. Education moderated the relationship between care and depressive symptoms. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

基于角色理论，本研究旨在探讨中国两种家庭照料角色—照料父母/岳父母或照料孙子女的普及程度，以及探讨其与抑郁症状的关联性。我们使用回归分析来确定与照料者抑郁症状相关的因素。本文使用了2011年中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）的数据。在有照料责任的受访者样本中，百分之二十六（26％）平均每天照料家中老人四小时。近一半（46％）为孙子女提供平均八小时/天的照顾。照料时长、与被照料者共同居住以及被照料者的健康情况与父母/岳父母照料者抑郁症状相关。照料的强度和持续时间与孙子女照料者的抑郁症状有关。教育缓和了照料与抑郁症状之间的关系。本文讨论了研究结果对政策和实践的启示。

KEYWORDS:

• Family caregiving
• CHARLS
• education
• elder
• grandchild

Acknowledgements

Y. Wang planned the study, performed the data analysis, and wrote the paper. E. Gonzales contributed to grounding the theory and literature, supervising the data analysis, and revising the manuscript. We thank Dr. Marcie Pitt-Catsouphes for her valuable critiques and revisions for the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. In the published literature, some authors use the term “elder caregiver” to refer to paid caregivers (Singleton 2004; Skira 2015), while others use the term to refer to informal (unpaid) family caregivers (Bergeron 2001; Singleton 2000). For the purposes of this paper, we will use the term “elder caregivers” to refer to the informal (unpaid) family elder caregiver role. Furthermore, the care recipient can be a parent or parent-in-law but does not include other elders, such as an elderly spouse.

2. In some published articles, authors use the term grandchild caregivers to mean grandparents who assume caregiving responsibilities, such as monitoring afterschool activities, to their grandchildren on a regular basis, although not necessarily full-time (Triadó et al. 2014). We use the term “grandchild caregiver” to refer to grandparents who provided care to their grandchildren on some regular basis.