Publication Type
Journal Article
Version
acceptedVersion
Publication Date
7-2015
Abstract
Living arrangements and family support for older persons have become an increasingly important policy concern in developing and rapidly aging Asia. Formulating a sound elderly care policy for the region will benefit from empirically examining how living arrangements, particularly coresidence, and intergenerational exchanges of financial, instrumental, and emotional support are associated with old-age psychological health. This study analyzes data from nationally representative aging surveys in Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand for 2011-2012 to offer a comparative perspective from Southeast Asia where various kinship systems coexist. Results suggest that coresidence with a child of culturally preferred gender significantly improves the emotional health of Vietnamese and Thai elders but with different implications. In Vietnam, living with a married son is more beneficial to parents' psychological wellbeing than living with other children. In Thailand, coresidence regardless of the child's gender improves old-age psychological wellbeing but living with a daughter brings greater benefits than living only with son. Evidence points to the importance of understanding the dominant kinship system that may shape normative filial expectations and gender role expectations within the family. In Vietnam and Thailand, the positive association holds even after intergenerational support is controlled, suggesting that the value of culturally preferred coresidence goes beyond practical functions. In Myanmar, there are almost no significant differences in psychological wellbeing among elderly across various living arrangements, except between coresidence and network living arrangements. For all settings, we do not find evidence in support of network family arrangements as a complete substitute for coresidence in terms of promoting old-age psychological wellbeing after filial support is controlled. Our study highlights important cultural nuances for theorizing the nature of the relationship between living arrangements and old-age psychological health, and presents the important need for more rigorous investigation of the causal links between these two phenomena in future research.
Keywords
Coresidence, Elderly, Intergenerational support, Living arrangements, Psychological wellbeing, Southeast Asia
Discipline
Asian Studies | Demography, Population, and Ecology | Medicine and Health | Sociology
Research Areas
Sociology
Publication
Social Science and Medicine
Volume
136-137
First Page
106
Last Page
116
ISSN
0277-9536
Identifier
10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.05.019
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
TEERAWICHITCHAINAN, Bussarawan, POTHISIRI, Wiraporn, & LONG, Giang Thanh.(2015). How do Living Arrangements and Intergenerational Support Matter for Psychological Health of Elderly Parents? Evidence from Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. Social Science and Medicine, 136-137, 106-116.
Available at: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1814
Copyright Owner and License
Authors
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Additional URL
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.05.019
Included in
Asian Studies Commons, Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons, Medicine and Health Commons