Sociology, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Centre for Ageing Research and Education, Duke-NUS Medical School, Singapore.
Soc Sci Med. 2022 Jun;303:114996. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.114996. Epub 2022 Apr 30.
Despite strong norms of filial obligation in Asian countries, little is known about whether child-provided support promotes older adults' well-being.
This study sought to examine whether and how the source (e.g., child/non-child providers) and the form (e.g., financial, instrumental) of received social support are associated with older adults' quality of life.
Data are from two waves of a longitudinal survey of older adults in Singapore (N = 2887). Two-wave mediation analyses were conducted to determine associations of the source and form of received social support with quality of life, and the extent to which personal mastery mediated these associations.
We find that, although receiving financial assistance from more children promotes older men's quality of life, older women's quality of life is eroded when receiving housework help from more children. These relationships are partially mediated through increase (for men) or decline (for women) in personal mastery.
The findings suggest that both the form and source of help provided to older adults matter. Receiving social support from children may not always benefit older adults - more attention is needed on how best to support older adults while giving them sufficient control to maintain a high quality of life.
尽管在亚洲国家存在强烈的孝道规范，但对于子女提供的支持是否能促进老年人的福祉知之甚少。
本研究旨在探讨所接受的社会支持的来源（例如子女/非子女提供者）和形式（例如经济、实物）与老年人生活质量之间的关系。
数据来自新加坡一项针对老年人的纵向调查的两个时间点（N=2887）。采用两波中介分析来确定所接受的社会支持的来源和形式与生活质量之间的关联，以及个人掌控感在这些关联中起到的中介作用。
我们发现，尽管从更多子女那里获得经济援助会促进老年男性的生活质量，但从更多子女那里获得家务帮助会降低老年女性的生活质量。这些关系部分通过个人掌控感的增加（对男性而言）或下降（对女性而言）来介导。
研究结果表明，提供给老年人的帮助的形式和来源都很重要。从子女那里获得社会支持并不总是对老年人有益——需要更多关注如何在给予他们足够的控制以维持高质量生活的同时，最好地支持老年人。
