Effects of intergenerational support from children on depression in rural empty nesters

Objective To explore the relationship between intergenerational support from children and depressive symptoms among rural empty-nesters, with a view to providing a reference basis for depression prevention and treatment among rural empty nesters. Methods A total of 1 756 participants from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) were included. The Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CESD-10) was used to measure the depressive symptoms of rural empty nesters. The intergenerational support of children was measured in three dimensions: economic support, spiritual comfort and daily care. The multivariate logistic regression model was used to analyze the relationship between intergenerational support of children and the depressive symptoms of rural empty nesters elderly. Results A total of 702 (39.98%) rural empty nesters suffered from depressive symptoms out of 1 756 study participants. Economic support (the value converted into natural logarithm) from children was lower in the depressed group than that in the non-depressed group (7.82±1.28 vs 8.06±1.26, t=3.892, P＜0.01), children’s spiritual comfort scores were lower in the depressed group than those in the non-depressed group [(3.44±2.10) points vs (3.80±2.20) points, t=3.426, P＜0.001), and the depression group had a lower percentage of children providing daily care (32.97% vs 52.51%, χ2=8.478, P=0.004). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that children’s economic support (OR=0.874, 95%CI: 0.804-0.950), children’s spiritual comfort (OR=0.916, 95%CI:0.870-0.964), and children’s daily care (OR=0.667, 95%CI: 0.494-0.901) were protective factors for depressive symptoms in the rural empty nesters (P＜0.01). Conclusion Plenty of the rural empty-nesters in China show depressive symptoms, and the intergenerational support from children is an important factor in effectively alleviating the depressive symptoms of this group.