Wang Yi, Li Jiajia, Ding Lulu, Feng Yuejing, Tang Xue, Sun Long, Zhou Chengchao
Centre for Health Management and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, 250012, China.
NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, Shandong University, 44 Wen-hua-xi Road, Jinan, 250012, Shandong, China.
BMC Geriatr. 2021 Mar 6;21(1):164. doi: 10.1186/s12877-021-02094-0.
Married female caregivers face a higher risk of an informal care burden than other caregivers. No study has explored the effect of socioeconomic status (SES) on the intensity of informal care provided by married female caregivers in China. The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how the SES of married female caregivers affects the intensity of the informal care they provide for their parents/parents-in-law in China.
The data for this study were drawn from 8 waves of the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS). The respondents were married women whose parents/parents-in-law needed care and lived in the same city as them. SES was defined based on four indicators: education, economic status, employment status, and hukou (China's household registration system). Informal caregivers were divided into three categories: non-caregivers (0 h/week), low-intensity caregivers (less than 10 h/week), and high-intensity caregivers (10 h/week and above). Multinomial logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relation between SES and the likelihood of a low- and high-intensity caregiving among married female caregivers, adjusting for age, family characteristics and survey wave.
Of the 2661 respondents, high-intensity and low-intensity caregivers accounted for 16.35 and 21.27%, respectively. The multinomial logistic regression results showed that the likelihood of being a high-intensity caregiver versus (vs. a non-caregiver) increased as the caregiver's educational attainment increased (p < 0.05), and that high economic status was related to the likelihood of being a high-intensity caregiver, but this relationship was only significant at the 10% level. Urban females were 1.34 times more likely than their rural counterparts to provide low-intensity care vs. no care (p < 0.05) and were 1.33 times more likely to provide high-intensity care vs. no care (p < 0.05). Employed females were 1.25 times more likely than those unemployed females to provide low-intensity care vs. no care (p < 0.05).
Differences in SES were found between high-intensity caregivers and low-intensity caregivers. Women with high educational attainment and urban hukou were more likely to provide high-intensity informal care, and women who were employed and had urban hukou were more likely to provide low-intensity care.
已婚女性照顾者面临的非正式护理负担风险高于其他照顾者。在中国，尚无研究探讨社会经济地位（SES）对已婚女性照顾者提供的非正式护理强度的影响。本研究的目的是实证检验中国已婚女性照顾者的社会经济地位如何影响她们为父母/公婆提供的非正式护理强度。
本研究的数据来自中国健康与营养调查（CHNS）的8轮调查。受访者为父母/公婆需要照顾且与她们居住在同一城市的已婚女性。社会经济地位根据四个指标定义：教育程度、经济状况、就业状况和户口（中国的户籍制度）。非正式照顾者分为三类：非照顾者（每周0小时）、低强度照顾者（每周少于10小时）和高强度照顾者（每周10小时及以上）。采用多项逻辑回归分析来检验社会经济地位与已婚女性照顾者中低强度和高强度照顾可能性之间的关系，并对年龄、家庭特征和调查轮次进行了调整。
在2661名受访者中，高强度和低强度照顾者分别占16.35%和21.27%。多项逻辑回归结果显示，随着照顾者教育程度的提高，成为高强度照顾者（相对于非照顾者）的可能性增加（p<0.05），高经济状况与成为高强度照顾者的可能性相关，但这种关系仅在10%的水平上显著。城市女性提供低强度护理而非不提供护理的可能性是农村女性的1.34倍（p<0.05），提供高强度护理而非不提供护理的可能性是农村女性的1.33倍（p<0.05）。就业女性提供低强度护理而非不提供护理的可能性是未就业女性的1.25倍（p<0.05）。
高强度照顾者和低强度照顾者之间存在社会经济地位差异。高学历和城市户口的女性更有可能提供高强度的非正式护理，而就业且有城市户口的女性更有可能提供低强度护理。
