Financial transfers from adult children and depressive symptoms among mid-aged and elderly residents in China - evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study

• Published in: BMC public health Vol. 18; no. 1; p. 882
• Main Authors: Wu, Yue, Dong, Wanyue, Xu, Yongjian, Fan, Xiaojing, Su, Min, Gao, Jianmin, Zhou, Zhongliang, Niessen, Louis, Wang, Yiyang, Wang, Xiao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England BioMed Central Ltd 16.07.2018; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Activities of Daily Living; Adult; Adult Children; Adults; Aged; Aging; Alzheimer's disease; CHARLS; Child; Child Care; Child health; Children; China; Correlation analysis; Depression (Mood disorder); Depression - economics; Depressive symptoms; Families & family life; Family Characteristics; Female; Geriatrics; Gift Giving; Health Surveys; Humans; Inter-generational transfer; Linear Models; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Mental Health; Mid-aged and elderly residents; Middle Aged; Multilevel model; Older parents; Older people; Parents; Parents & parenting; Psychological aspects; Public health; Retirement; Retirement - economics; Retirement - psychology; Risk factors; Socioeconomic factors; Studies; China; Europe; Depressive symptoms; Inter-generational transfer; Mid-aged and elderly residents; China; CHARLS; Multilevel model
• ISSN: 1471-2458; 1471-2458
• DOI: 10.1186/s12889-018-5794-x

Although the awareness of mental health problems in late life is rising, the association between financial transfers to the older generations from children and mental health at older ages in China has received little attention. This study examines the association between financial transfers from children and depressive symptoms among the mid-aged and elderly residents (from 45 years of age and older) in China. We used the data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS, 2013) (n = 10,935) This included data on financial transfers from all non-co-resident children to their parents, and the individual scores on depressive symptoms as measured by the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale (CESD-10). A two-level - individual and community levels - mixed linear model was deployed to explore their association. Financial transfers from children to parents was the major component of inter-generational financial transfers in Chinese families. A higher financial support from non-co-resident children was signivicantly and positively related to fewer depressive symptoms (coef. = - 0.195,P-value< 0.001) among both the mid-aged and elderly parents. Financial transfers from non-co-resident children are associated with depressive symptoms among mid-aged and elderly residents in the China situation. Taxation and other policy measures should encourage and facilitate these type of financial transfers and prevent a decrease of support from children to parents.