Widowhood and self-rated health among Chinese elders: The effect of economic condition

doi:10.1111/j.1741-6612.2007.00269.x

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Wiley InterScience

Australasian Journal on Ageing

Volume 27 Issue 1, Pages 26 - 32

Published Online: 14 Feb 2008

Published on behalf of AJA, Inc.

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Research

Widowhood and self-rated health among Chinese elders: The effect of economic condition

Pamela C Krochalk ¹ , Yawen Li ² and Iris Chi ²

¹ Division of Health Sciences, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Carson, California, USA
² School of Social Work, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, USA

Correspondence to: Dr Pamela C. Krochalk, Division of Health Sciences, California State University, Dominguez Hills. Email: Pkrochalk@csudh.edu

KEYWORDS

aged • Chinese • economic • health • widowhood

ABSTRACT

Objective: To examine the mediating effect of economic condition (income, work status, self-rated financial situation and financial support) on widowhood and self-rated health in elderly Chinese.

Methods: The study sample consists of 17 556 married and widowed elders age 60 and older selected from the nationwide 2000 Sample Survey on Aged Population in Urban/Rural China. Path analysis is used to identify the direct and indirect relationships of economic condition between widowhood and self-rated health.

Results: Widowhood has a direct effect on self-rated health for those widowed for more than 4 years. Work status and perceived financial situation mediate that relationship regardless of length of time widowed. Being older, male, less educated, and functionally healthy are associated with better self-rated health among those widowed.

Conclusions: Work status and perceived financial situation have a more significant effect on widowhood and self-rated health than income and financial support. The findings have cross-cultural implications for developing elder care programs.

DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER (DOI)

10.1111/j.1741-6612.2007.00269.x About DOI