Page 14 - IJPS-5-2

Worry about eldercare in China

odds of worry about eldercare. Similarly, living with at least a child reduces 23% of the odds of worry about eldercare. The
subjective measure of family relations, worry about children’s filiality, is also highly significant. Those who had no worry
about children’s filiality were only 5% as likely as those who had such a concern to worry about eldercare.
In Model 2, when older adults’ socio-economic resource variables are added, the effects of the three family relations
variables remain robust. Although the two objective measures of receiving public income and medical care coverage
were not significant, the two subjective measures were highly significant. Those who had no worry about income were
only 37% as likely as those who had such a concern to worry about eldercare, and those who had no worry about medical
care coverage were only 18% as likely as those who had such a concern to worry about eldercare. In Model 3, of the four
types of community services, having unmet need for doctors’ home visits and unmet need for companionship is associated
with higher odds of worry about eldercare, while the effects of family relation variables and older adults’ socioeconomic
resource variables remained virtually unchanged.
Table 3 shows similar results for 2010. All three family relation variables remain highly significant even when all
other variables are controlled for. Older adults’ socio-economic resource variables are significant, as well. Among the

Table 3. Odds ratios of logistic regression of worry about eldercare, 2010 (n=19, 986).
Variable Model 1 Model 2 Model 3
Age 0.977*** 1.000 1.000
Sex
Male 1.148*** 1.138* 1.133**
Female (ref.)
Residence
Urban 0.947 1.058 1.140*
Rural (ref.)
Marital status
Married 0.730*** 0.757*** 0.759***
Currently not married (ref.)
Education
Illiterate (ref.)
Elementary 0.907* 1.003 1.017
Middle school or higher 0.767*** 1.219** 1.236***
ADL difficulty 1.514*** 1.153** 1.137*
Home ownership 1.035 1.044 1.039
Number of children 0.888*** 0.873*** 0.872***
Living arrangements
Alone or with spouse only (ref.)
With children 0.850*** 0.813*** 0.813***
Other 0.941 1.000 0.998
No worry about children’s filiality 0.048*** 0.104*** 0.105***
Receiving any public income 1.184*** 1.181***
Receiving medical care coverage 1.040 1.030
No worry about income 0.362*** 0.365***
No worry about medical care 0.129*** 0.128***
Unmet need for housework work 1.208**
Unmet need for personal care 1.075
Unmet need for doctors’ home visits 1.033
Unmet need for companionship 1.092
*P<0.01, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001 for Wald Chi-square test. ADL: Activities of daily living.

8 International Journal of Population Studies | 2019, Volume 5, Issue 2