833
Views
20
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

“It is not simply the loss of a child”: The challenges facing parents who have lost their only child in post-reproductive age in China

ORCID Icon & ORCID Icon

References

  • Ahern, K. J. (1999). Ten tips for reflexive bracketing. Qualitative Health Research, 9(3), 407–411. doi:10.1177/104973239900900309
  • Albuquerque, S., Pereira, M., & Narciso, I. (2016). Couple’s relationship after the death of a child: A systematic review. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 25(1), 30–53. doi:10.1007/s10826-015-0219-2
  • Bratt, A. S., Stenström, U., & Rennemark, M. (2017). Effects on life satisfaction of older adults after child and spouse bereavement. Aging and Mental Health, 21(6), 602–608. doi:10.1080/13607863.2015.1135874
  • Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2013). Successful qualitative research: A practical guide for beginners. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
  • Breen, L. J., & O'Connor, M. (2011). Family and social networks after bereavement: Experiences of support, change and isolation. Journal of Family Therapy, 33(1), 98–120. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6427.2010.00495.x
  • Breen, L. J., Szylit, R., Gilbert, K. R., Macpherson, C., Murphy, I., Nadeau, J. W., … Wiegand, D. L, … International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavement. (2019). Invitation to grief in the family context. Death Studies, 43(3), 173–182. doi:10.1080/07481187.2018.1442375
  • Cai, F., Giles, J., O’Keefe, P., & Wang, D. (2012). The elderly and old age support in rural China. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
  • Deutsch, F. M. (2006). Filial piety, patrilineality, and China's one-child policy. Journal of Family Issues, 27(3), 366–389. doi:10.1177/0192513X05283097
  • Dong, K., & Wang, G. (2014). China's pension challenge: Adaptive strategy for success. Public Administration and Development, 34(4), 265–280. doi:10.1002/pad.1688
  • Du, P., & Wang, Y. (2016). Population ageing and the development of social care service systems for older persons in China. International Journal on Ageing in Developing Countries, 1, 40–52.
  • Fan, L. (2017). China’s one-child policy has a legacy of bereaved parents facing humiliation and despair. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2107155/chinas-one-child-policy-has-legacy-bereaved.
  • Fei, X. (1998). Xiang tu zhong guo:Sheng yu zhi du [Rural China: fertility system]: Beijing: Peking University Press.
  • Floyd, F. J., Mailick Seltzer, M., Greenberg, J. S., & Song, J. (2013). Parental bereavement during mid-to-later life: Pre-to postbereavement functioning and intrapersonal resources for coping. Psychology and Aging, 28(2), 402–413.
  • Gillies, J., & Neimeyer, R. A. (2006). Loss, grief, and the search for significance: Toward a model of meaning reconstruction in bereavement. Journal of Constructivist Psychology, 19(1), 31–65. doi:10.1080/10720530500311182
  • Greene, D., Tschanz, J. T., Smith, K. R., Østbye, T., Corcoran, C., Welsh-Bohmer, K. A., & Norton, M. C. (2014). Impact of offspring death on cognitive health in late life: The Cache County Study. The American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 22(11), 1307–1315. doi:10.1016/j.jagp.2013.05.002
  • Hoffman, L., & Hoffman, M. (1973). The value of children to parents. In J. T. Fawcett (Ed.), Psychological perspective on population (pp. 19–76). New York: Basic Books.
  • Holt-Lunstad, J., Smith, T. B., Baker, M., Harris, T., & Stephenson, D. (2015). Loneliness and social isolation as risk factors for mortality: A meta-analytic review. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 10(2), 227–237. doi:10.1177/1745691614568352
  • Hooghe, A., Neimeyer, R. A., & Rober, P. (2011). The complexity of couple communication in bereavement: An illustrative case study. Death Studies, 35(10), 905–924.
  • Kristensen, P., Heir, T., Herlofsen, P. H., Langsrud, Ø., & Weisaeth, L. (2012). Parental mental health after the accidental death of a son during military service: 23-year follow-up study. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 200(1), 63–68.
  • Langford, C. P. H., Bowsher, J., Maloney, J. P., & Lillis, P. P. (1997). Social support: A conceptual analysis. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 25(1), 95–100. doi:10.1046/j.1365-2648.1997.1997025095.x
  • Li, Y. (2013). A perspective on health care for the elderly who lose their only child in China. Scandinavian Journal of Public Health, 41(6), 550–552. doi:10.1177/1403494813490252
  • National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China. (2007). Experimental Social Support Scheme for Shidu Families in China, [policy document], Retrieved from http://www.nhfpc.gov.cn/zwgk/wtwj/201305/9cc5459a79db40bfb48df6618be985a8.shtml.
  • National Health Commission of People's Republic of China. (2010). National health statistics yearbook of 2010 [online report]. Retrieved from http://www.nhfpc.gov.cn/htmlfiles/zwgkzt/ptjnj/year2010/index2010.html.
  • Neimeyer, R. A. (2000). Searching for the meaning of meaning: Grief therapy and the process of reconstruction. Death Studies, 24(6), 541–558. doi:10.1080/07481180050121480
  • Neimeyer, R. A. (2012). The (half) truth about grief. Illness, Crisis and Loss, 20(4), 389–395. doi:10.2190/IL.20.4.g
  • Penninx, B. W. (2017). Depression and cardiovascular disease: Epidemiological evidence on their linking mechanisms. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 74, 277–286. doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.07.003
  • Pryce, C. R., & Fontana, A. (2016). Depression in autoimmune diseases. In R. Dancer & L. Capuron (Eds.), Inflammation-associated depression: Evidence, mechanisms and implications (pp. 139–154). Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
  • Qian, Y., & Knoester, C. (2015). Parental status and subjective well-being among currently married individuals in China. Journal of Family Issues, 36(10), 1351–1376. doi:10.1177/0192513X13503323
  • Qin, P., & Mortensen, P. B. (2003). The impact of parental status on the risk of completed suicide. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60(8), 797–802. doi:10.1001/archpsyc.60.8.797
  • Rogers, C. H., Floyd, F. J., Seltzer, M. M., Greenberg, J., & Hong, J. (2008). Long-term effects of the death of a child on parents' adjustment in midlife. Journal of Family Psychology, 22(2), 203–211. doi:10.1037/0893-3200.22.2.203
  • Settles, B. H., Sheng, X., Zang, Y., & Zhao, J. (2013). The one-child policy and its impact on Chinese families. In K. Chan (Ed.), International handbook of Chinese families (pp. 627–646). New York: Springer.
  • Song, Y. (2014). Losing an only child: The one-child policy and elderly care in China. Reproductive Health Matters, 22(43), 113–124. doi:10.1016/S0968-8080(14)43755-8
  • Song, J., Floyd, F. J., Seltzer, M. M., Greenberg, J. S., & Hong, J. (2010). Long-term effects of child death on parents’ health-related quality of life: A dyadic analysis. Family Relations, 59(3), 269–282. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2010.00601.x
  • Trout, D. L. (1980). The role of social isolation in suicide. Suicide and Life-Threatening Behavior, 10(1), 10–23.
  • Wang, G. (2013). Du sheng zi nv si wang shu liang ji bian hua qu shi yan jiu. [Study on the total number of deceased only children and the changing trends]. Chinese Journal of Population Science, 1, 57–65.
  • Wenn, J., O’Connor, M., Breen, L. J., & Rees, C. S. (2019). Exploratory study of metacognitive beliefs about coping processes in prolonged grief symptomatology. Death Studies, 43(3), 143–153. doi:10.1080/07481187.2018.1440032
  • Wu, Z., & Penning, M. J. (2018). Children and the mental health of older adults in China: What matters? Population Research and Policy Review, 2(Suppl 1), 656.
  • Yao, H., Chan, C., & Chan, C. (2018). Childbearing importance: A qualitative study of women with infertility in China. Research in Nursing and Health, 41(1), 69–77. doi:10.1002/nur.21846
  • Yin, Q., Shang, Z., Zhou, N., Wu, L., Liu, G., Yu, X., … Liu, W. (2018). An investigation of physical and mental health consequences among Chinese parents who lost their only child. BMC Psychiatry, 18(1), 45.
  • Zeng, Y., Zhang, X., & Liu, L. (2017). From “selective two-child policy” to universal two-child policy: Will the payment crisis of China’s pension system be solved? China Finance and Economic Review, 5(1), 14.
  • Zhang, T., Zhang, W., Wu, R., Zhou, Z., Fan, X., Sun, X., & Chen, A. (2013). Life after loss: When families lose their only child [Online article]. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/html/feature/lifeafterloss/index.html#intro.
  • Zhang, Y., & Jia, X. (2018). A qualitative study on the grief of people who lose their only child: From the perspective of familism culture. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, 869.
  • Zhang, W., & Liu, G. (2007). Childlessness, psychological well-being, and life satisfaction among the elderly in China. Journal of Cross-Cultural Gerontology, 22(2), 185–203. doi:10.1007/s10823-007-9037-3
  • Zheng, Y., & Lawson, T. R. (2015). Identity reconstruction as shiduers: Narratives from Chinese older adults who lost their only child. International Journal of Social Welfare, 24(4), 399–406. doi:10.1111/ijsw.12139
  • Zheng, Y., Lawson, T. R., & Anderson Head, B. (2017). “Our only child has died”—a study of bereaved older Chinese parents. Omega – Journal of Death and Dying, 74(4), 410–425. doi:10.1177/0030222815612285
  • Zheng, G., Shi, S., & Tang, H. (2005). Population development and the value of children in the People’s Republic of China. In G. Trommsdorff (Ed.), The value of children in cross-cultural perspective: Case studies from eight societies. Lengerich, Germany: Pabst.
  • Zimmer, Z., & Kwong, J. (2003). Family size and support of older adults in urban and rural China: Current effects and future implications. Demography, 40(1), 23–44. doi:10.1353/dem.2003.0010

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.