Disappointed or Considerate? The Effect of Filial Discrepancy on Life Satisfaction of Older Adults in Rural China

Ying Cheng, Xian Jiaotong University
JIN GUO, Xi'an Jiaotong University
Shuzhuo Li, Xi'an Jiaotong University

Contemporary China's demographic transformation, cultural transformation, economic transformation and intergenerational transformation have brought multiple impacts to traditional filial piety, especially in rural areas. The gap between the filial piety expectations of rural older adults for their children and the actual filial support they receive has created filial discrepancy. This paper uses multiple linear regression to verify the effect of filial discrepancy in the three dimensions of emotion, economy, and instrument on the life satisfaction of older adults. Result shows that emotional discrepancy negatively impacts the life satisfaction of older adults. The emotional discrepancy will not only directly affect the life satisfaction through emotional connection but also reduce the result in a relative sense of disappointment towards children and reducing the life satisfaction. Finacial discrepancy negatively impacts the life satisfaction of older adults. The finacial discrepancy mainly affects the life satisfaction of the elderly through subjective feelings of children's filial piety, rather than through its direct effect on the objective material improvement of the elderly. Instrumental discrepancy does not significantly impact the life satisfaction of older adults. The realization of low-quality instrumental filial will reduce the perception of filial piety and cannot improve the life satisfaction of older adults.

Keywords: Older Adults and Intergenerational Relations, Family Planning and Contraception

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