Meng Dijuan, Xu Guihua, He Ling, Zhang Min, Lin Dan
Nursing College, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Jiangsu Province Hospital of TCM, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China.
PLoS One. 2017 Jul 17;12(7):e0180764. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0180764. eCollection 2017.
Living arrangements are important to the elderly. However, it is common for elderly parents in urban China to not have a living situation that they consider ideal. An understanding of their preferences assists us in responding to the needs of the elderly as well as in anticipating future long-term care demands. The aim of this study is to provide a clear understanding of preferences for future living arrangements and their associated factors among middle-aged and older people in urban China.
Data were extracted from the CHARLS 2011-2012 national baseline survey of middle-aged and elderly people. In the 2011 wave of the CHARLS, a total of 17,708 individual participants (10,069 main respondents and 7,638 spouses) were interviewed; 2509 of the main respondents lived in urban areas. In this group, 41 people who were younger than 45 years old and 162 who had missing data in the variable "living arrangement preference" were excluded. Additionally, 42 people were excluded because they chose "other" for the variable "living arrangement preference" (which was a choice with no specific answer). Finally, a total of 2264 participants were included in our study.
The most popular preference for future living arrangements was living close to their children in the same community/neighborhoods, followed by living with adult children. The degree of community handicapped access, number of surviving children, age, marital status, access to community-based elderly care centers and number of years lived in the same community were significantly associated with the preferences for future living arrangements among the respondents.
There is a trend towards preference for living near adult children in urban China. Additionally, age has a positive effect on preference for living close to their children. Considerations should be made in housing design and urban community development plans to fulfill older adults' expectations. In addition, increasing the accessibility of public facilities in the residential area was important to the elderly, especially for those who preferred living in proximity to their children rather than co-residing with their children. We found that more surviving children were associated with a lower likelihood of choosing "institutionalization", and it positively contributed to preference for intergenerational living arrangements in our study. As expected, compared with their married counterparts, people who were separated/divorced/widowed preferred living with adult children rather than living independently. A relatively shorter length of residence in the same community was an important indicator of preference for independent living; this finding might require further research.
居住安排对老年人很重要。然而，在中国城市地区，老年父母没有理想居住状况的情况很常见。了解他们的偏好有助于我们满足老年人的需求，并预测未来的长期护理需求。本研究的目的是清楚了解中国城市中老年人对未来居住安排的偏好及其相关因素。
数据取自中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）2011 - 2012年全国中老年基线调查。在2011年的CHARLS调查中，共访谈了17708名个体参与者（10069名主要受访者和7638名配偶）；其中2509名主要受访者居住在城市地区。在这一组中，排除了41名年龄小于45岁的人以及162名在“居住安排偏好”变量中有缺失数据的人。此外，有42人因在“居住安排偏好”变量中选择了“其他”（这是一个无具体答案的选项）而被排除。最终，共有2264名参与者纳入我们的研究。
未来居住安排最受欢迎的偏好是在同一社区/街区与子女住得近，其次是与成年子女同住。社区无障碍设施程度、存活子女数量、年龄、婚姻状况、是否有社区养老中心以及在同一社区居住的年数与受访者对未来居住安排的偏好显著相关。
在中国城市，有倾向于在成年子女附近居住的趋势。此外，年龄对与子女住得近的偏好有积极影响。在住房设计和城市社区发展规划中应予以考虑，以满足老年人的期望。此外，提高居民区公共设施的可达性对老年人很重要，特别是对于那些更喜欢与子女住得近而不是与子女同住的人。我们发现，存活子女越多，选择“机构养老”的可能性越低，并且在我们的研究中对代际居住安排的偏好有积极贡献。正如预期的那样，与已婚者相比，分居/离婚/丧偶的人更喜欢与成年子女同住而不是独立生活。在同一社区居住时间相对较短是偏好独立生活的一个重要指标；这一发现可能需要进一步研究。
