Skip to main content
Article
The Structure of Intergenerational Relations in Rural China: A Latent Class Analysis
Journal of Marriage and Family (2012)
  • Merril D Silverstein, Syracuse University
  • Man Guo
  • Iris Cho
Abstract

Most existing typology studies of intergenerational relations have used samples in North America and Europe. The present study expands on previous research by determining whether similar family relation typologies could be found using a sample of Chinese rural elders. The data were derived from a survey of 1,224 older adults in China's rural Anhui province in 2009. Latent class analysis revealed 5 types of intergenerational relations in rural Chinese families: (a) tight-knit, (b) nearby but discordant, (c) distant discordant, (d) distant reciprocal, and (e) distant ascending. The authors argue that the distant ascending ties reflect the strong filial obligations that Chinese adult children have toward their parents and that the distant reciprocal ties reflect collaborative and mutually beneficial parent–child relations in rural China in the context of massive rural-to-urban migration. The findings of this study demonstrate how family relations in contemporary China are shaped by the larger economic, geographic, and cultural contexts.

Disciplines
Publication Date
2012
Publisher Statement
Copyright 2012 Journal of Marriage and Family. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and Journal of Marriage and Family. The article may be found at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2012.01014.x/abstract
Citation Information
Merril D Silverstein, Man Guo and Iris Cho. "The Structure of Intergenerational Relations in Rural China: A Latent Class Analysis" Journal of Marriage and Family Vol. 74 Iss. 5 (2012)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/merril_silverstein/5/