Zhang Yan
School of Psychology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China.
Front Psychol. 2020 May 20;11:885. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00885. eCollection 2020.
Aging, the one-child policy, and migration have altered Chinese family structure and the number of empty-nest elders is increasing. Since living without children runs in the opposite direction of filial piety, empty-nest elders have typically been negatively viewed and depicted as unhappy. However, individualization and the unbalanced development of China may decrease the impact of children but increase the impact of the spouse and rural-urban gaps on elders' well-being. Therefore this study re-examined the subjective well-being of empty-nest elders considering these social changes. Participants ( = 765; age range = 60-94 years, = 70.25 years, = 7.85; men = 45%) were recruited from two large cities, two small cities, and two rural areas in China. Elders' subjective well-being was measured by the Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness-Chinese version. Results showed that participants were happy on average; empty-nest elders were not unhappier than non-empty-nest elders. Elders living without a spouse and rural elders had a high risk of being unhappy. Policymakers should thus shift their attention from empty-nest families to the widowed and rural elders.
老龄化、独生子女政策和人口迁移改变了中国的家庭结构，空巢老人的数量正在增加。由于没有子女相伴的生活与孝道相悖，空巢老人通常受到负面评价，并被描绘为不幸福。然而，个体化以及中国发展的不平衡可能会减少子女对老年人幸福感的影响，但会增加配偶以及城乡差距对老年人幸福感的影响。因此，本研究考虑到这些社会变化，重新审视了空巢老人的主观幸福感。研究参与者（n = 765；年龄范围 = 60 - 94岁，M = 70.25岁，SD = 7.85；男性 = 45%）来自中国的两个大城市、两个小城市和两个农村地区。老年人的主观幸福感通过纽芬兰纪念大学幸福量表中文版进行测量。结果显示，参与者总体上是幸福的；空巢老人并不比非空巢老人更不幸福。没有配偶陪伴的老年人和农村老年人不幸福的风险较高。因此，政策制定者应将注意力从空巢家庭转移到丧偶老人和农村老人身上。
