Older parents enjoy better filial piety and care from daughters than sons in China

This study analyzes the unique datasets of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey using logistic regression and controlling for various covariates. Our analyses clearly demonstrate that disabled older parents are more satisfied with care provided by daughters than sons and that older parents enjoy greater filial piety from and better relationships with daughters than sons. The daughter-advantages of enjoying greater filial piety from and better relationships with children are stronger among the oldest-old aged 80+ than the young-old aged 65-79, and surprisingly more profound in rural areas than urban areas, while son-preference is much more prevalent among rural residents. We also discuss why China's rigorous fertility policy until October-2015 and much less-developed pension system in rural areas substantially contribute to sustaining traditional son-preference and a high sex ratio at birth (SRB) when fertility is low. We recommend China take integrative public health policy actions of informing the public that having daughter(s) is beneficial for old age care, developing the rural pension system and implementing the universal two-child policy as soon as possible. We believe that these policy actions would help to reduce son-preference, bring down the high SRB, and enable more future elderly parents to enjoy better care from their children and healthier lives.

Association of children's eating behaviors with parental education, and teachers' health awareness, attitudes and behaviors: a national school-based survey in China

BACKGROUND

In China, childhood obesity is a growing health issue. Eating behaviors among children can be influenced by both the family and school environment. We examine the association between these environments and eating habits among children.

METHODS

A total of 11 270 fourth to sixth grade school children, 11 270 of their fathers or mothers, and 1348 teachers from 48 schools were sampled using a multistage cluster random sampling method. Questionnaires collected information on eating behaviors among children, non-communicable chronic disease (NCD)-related health knowledge and behaviors among teachers, and education levels among parents. Mixed effect logistic regression models were used to describe the key associations between eating behaviors among children and teacher and parental characteristics.

RESULTS

Health awareness, positive health attitudes, never-smoking and regular-exercise among teachers was positively associated with healthy eating behaviors among their students (having breakfast, vegetables and dairy products every day; P < 0.05), and negatively associated with the unhealthy behaviors (daily intake of fried foods and desserts and sugary beverages; P < 0.05). More than one parent having a high school level or above was positively related to healthy eating behaviors among their children (P < 0.05), but its associations with high-calorie eating habits were negative in urban and positive in rural areas (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

School-based interventions which target health-related awareness, attitude and behaviors among school teachers may help improve school-aged children's eating behaviors. Parental education levels may help guide efforts to target children at higher risk of unhealthy eating habits.

High sensitivity C-reactive protein associated with different health predictors in middle-aged and oldest old Chinese

OBJECTIVE

To describe the distribution of plasma high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) and explore the relationship between hsCRP and metabolic risk factors among residents living in longevity areas of China.

METHODS

268 individuals aged between 40 and 59 years and 506 individuals aged over 90 years were selected from 5 longevity areas of China to participate in a cross section longitudinal cohort study. The participants were interviewed with general health related questionnaire to collect their demographic, behavioral and lifestyle data, as well as their chronic conditions, and meanwhile their physical and biomedical parameters including waist circumference (WC), blood pressure (BP), hsCRP, plasma lipids, and fasting blood glucose (FBG) were measured.

RESULTS

The median of hsCRP was 0.99 mg/L in the middle-aged group and 1.76 mg/L in the oldest old group. No significant gender difference was observed between the above two groups. Among the oldest old individuals, 36.56% had an hsCRP level >3.0 mg/L. The prevalence of high hsCRP was 16.79% in the middle-aged group. The results of stepwise multiple linear regression analyses showed that HDL-C was independently associated with ln (hsCRP) concentration in the middle-aged group, whereas ln (TG), HDL-C and FBG were correlated after adjustment for gender, study site, smoking, drinking, education and BMI in the oldest old group.

CONCLUSION

HDL-C is a stronger predictor of elevated hsCRP than other metabolic factors in the middle-aged population. For the oldest old persons, high TG, low HDL-C, and FBG predict elevated plasma hsCRP.

Living Arrangements of Older Adults in China: The Interplay Among Preferences, Realities, and Health

This article uses the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey to examine the dynamics of living arrangements among the elderly in China. First, the author explores what factors are related to living arrangement preference. In addition, the author looks at a relatively unexplored measure— “living arrangement concordance”—having a match between preferred and actual living arrangements. This article also examines the relationship between concordance, self-rated health, and activities of daily living disability. Living arrangement concordance is high among community-residing elderly, but older Chinese and minority ethnicity are more likely to prefer coresidence with children, while people with higher socioeconomic status and greater family care resources are more likely to prefer living independently. This study gives evidence for person-environment fit theory—older adults with independent living concordance are more likely to have good self-rated health. Older adults who coreside with children, however, are more likely to be disabled, regardless of concordance status.