Intergenerational relationship, family social support, and depression among Chinese elderly: A structural equation modeling analysis

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the association among intergenerational relationship, family social support, and elderly's depression symptoms.

Method: Data were obtained from China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) 2014, which is a continuous large-scale national social survey project conducted by the National Survey Research Center at Renmin University of China. Stratified multi-stage probability sampling method was used to collect the sample (N = 11,511). Structural equation modeling was adopted to analyze the association among intergenerational relationship, family social support, and elderly's depression.

Results: Intergenerational relationship and family social support were negatively correlated with an elderly's depression level. Elderly who enjoyed positive intergenerational relationships with their children would experience adequate family social support and likely have few depression symptoms.

Conclusion: Intergenerational relationship directly affected the elderly's depression level. Family social support played a mediating role between intergenerational relationship and depression. Our findings could contribute to current theories and knowledge and provide implications in social policy, pension service, and social work intervention for the elderly in China.

Keywords: Depression; Elderly; Family social support; Intergenerational relationship.