Abstract: Given China’s need to respond to rapid population ageing, shrinking family sizes and shifting norms around filial piety in elder care, this article examines whether gendered family structures and caregiving arrangements shape older parents’ self-reported health and mortality in rural areas. Using three waves (2009, 2012 and 2015) of data from the Well-being of Elderly Survey in Anhui Province, the analysis shows that older parents—especially mothers with only daughters—report low levels of self-rated health. However, having only daughters is associated with a lower mortality risk, whereas having mostly sons is linked to higher mortality risk, particularly for fathers. In practice, care from daughters corresponds to lower mortality risk for older parents, especially fathers, while care from sons is associated with better subjective health, particularly for mothers. The findings suggest that persistent traditional norms and gender inequalities in rural China partly offset the potential health advantages associated with daughters’ caregiving.
Huijun et al. (Fri,) studied this question.