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Intergenerational support among widowed older adults in China

in 2001. Approximately 89% and 72% of the widowed received sick care and
emotional support, respectively, from their children/children-in-law or grandchildren/
grandchildren-in-law (children, thereafter). Two-thirds of the widowed (67%) lived
with their children, three in ten lived alone or with others, and only about 4% of the
widowed lived in nursing homes.
Table 1. Descriptive statistics (weighted means or percentages) of widowed Chinese ages 65 and older (CLHLS, 2002)
Variables Mean or % SD
Receipt of net financial transfer (%) 84.66
Amount of net financial transfer (yuan) a 1225.34 1911.76
Receipt of sick care (%) 89.02
Receipt of emotional support (%) 72.05
Living arrangements (%)
Living alone/with others 29.54
Living in nursing homes 3.86
Living with children 66.61
Widowed older adults’ needs
Received schooling (%) 35.43
Having pension (%) 15.72
ADL limitations (0–6) 0.23 0.81
Child’s gender and number of children
Number of sons (0–4) 1.95 1.23
Number of daughters (0–4) 1.77 1.28
Number of children living nearby (0–6) 3.25 1.90
Marital history
Married twice or more (%) 7.43
Control variables
Age (65–105) 75.02 6.71
Female (%) 73.04
Rural (%) 82.98
Han (%) 93.96
Notes: N = 10,511
a Sample includes the widowed Chinese who had at least one child and received positive financial transfers from their children and children-in-law,
N = 8,333

Overall, the widowed older adults had low levels of educational attainment: slightly
more than one-third had received some education. About 16% had pensions. The mean
number of ADL limitations was 0.23. On average, the widowed had two sons, two
daughters, and three children who lived nearby. The fertility level of the widowed in
the sample was relatively high because most of them had already finished childbearing
when the one-child policy was introduced in the late 1970s. Roughly 7% of widowed
older adults were married more than once. The average age of the widowed older
adults were 75 years old. The majority of the widowed population was widows (73%),
lived in rural areas (83%), and were Han (94%).
3.2 Factors Associated with Old-Age Support in Widowhood

3.2.1 Widowed Older Adults’ Needs
As shown in Table 2, we found that overall widowed older adults’ financial and
personal care needs were positively associated with the likelihood of receiving

100 International Journal of Population Studies 2017, Volume 3, Issue 1