Wang You-Hua, Hu Xiao-Liang, Li Yue
College of State Governance, Southwest University, Chongqing, China.
Department of Cardiology, The Ninth People's Hospital of Chongqing, Chonqing, China.
Front Psychiatry. 2024 Mar 27;15:1365271. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1365271. eCollection 2024.
In the rural regions of China, characterized by a pronounced aging demographic and limited resources, a substantial proportion of middle-aged and older adults engage in grandparenting roles. Yet, the literature lacks consistent evidence regarding the effects of grandparenting on the mental health of this cohort. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore the impact of grandparenting on the mental health of rural middle-aged and older adults, as well as the underlying mechanisms.
This analysis encompassed 10,881 middle-aged and older adults, utilizing data from the 2018 Harmonized China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The mental health of participants was assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression-10 (CESD-10) scale, while support from children was categorized into financial and emotional types. The study employed logistic and OLS regression models to identify the mediating role of child support and utilized the Karlson-Holm-Breen (KHB) method for decomposing this mediating effect.
The findings demonstrated that grandparenting had a significant negative impact on depression among rural middle-aged and older adults. Furthermore, children's support played a vital role in mediating this relationship, accounting for approximately one-third of the overall influence. Moreover, the decomposition analysis revealed that both emotional and economic support from adult children equally contributed to the declination of depression among rural middle-aged and older adults.
Grandparenting significantly enhances mental well-being in rural middle-aged and older adults, with the support from adult children serving as a vital pathway for this positive impact. Both economic and emotional assistance from children hold equal importance in this dynamic. It underscores the necessity of fortifying the family support system to amplify the support provided by children, which in turn could significantly enhance the mental health of rural middle-aged and older adults.
在中国农村地区，人口老龄化明显且资源有限，相当一部分中老年成年人承担着祖父母的角色。然而，关于祖父母角色对这一群体心理健康的影响，文献中缺乏一致的证据。因此，本研究旨在探讨祖父母角色对农村中老年成年人心理健康的影响及其潜在机制。
本分析纳入了10881名中老年成年人，数据来自2018年中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）。使用流行病学研究中心抑郁量表-10（CESD-10）评估参与者的心理健康，同时将子女的支持分为经济支持和情感支持两类。本研究采用逻辑回归和OLS回归模型来确定子女支持的中介作用，并使用卡尔森-霍尔姆-布林（KHB）方法对这种中介效应进行分解。
研究结果表明，祖父母角色对农村中老年成年人的抑郁有显著的负面影响。此外，子女的支持在调节这种关系中起着至关重要的作用，约占总体影响的三分之一。此外，分解分析表明，成年子女的情感支持和经济支持对农村中老年成年人抑郁程度的下降贡献相同。
祖父母角色显著提升了农村中老年成年人的心理健康，成年子女的支持是产生这种积极影响的重要途径。在这一动态过程中，子女的经济支持和情感支持同样重要。这凸显了加强家庭支持系统以增强子女提供的支持的必要性，这反过来可以显著改善农村中老年成年人的心理健康。
