Elderly Chinese Immigrants Living Alone: Roles of Socio-Cultural Determinants

Daniel Wing Leung Lai*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to conferenceConference paperpeer-review

Abstract

Chinese culture places strong emphasis on family values, which often translates into adult children “being there” to provide the care elderly parents need. It is a cultural norm for the Chinese elderly people to live with adult children. It is particularly the case for elderly immigrants who are often faced with additional challenges associated with social and cultural adjustment. Therefore, it becomes an interesting and important research question to ask why some elderly Chinese immigrants reside alone. Using the data from a multi-site survey on health and well being of older Chinese in Canada, this paper examined the predictors for elderly Chinese immigrants living alone. The sample (N=660) consisted of single elderly (65+ years) Chinese immigrants born outside of Canada. Results of hierarchical logistic regression analysis have shown that culture-related factors (i.e. having a non-western religion and length of residency in Canada) play the most important role in predicting the elderly immigrants’ choice of living alone. Other significant predictors are related to social and financial resources (i.e. secondary education and higher income). The findings support the argument that culture plays a more important role than social/financial resources in determining the elderly Chinese immigrants’ decision to living alone.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 22 Oct 2005
Event34th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting of the Canadian Association on Gerontology - Halifax, Canada
Duration: 20 Oct 200522 Oct 2005
https://cagacg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CAG_program2005_e.pdf (Conference program)
https://cagacg.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/CAG_abstracts2005.pdf (Conference abstract)

Conference

Conference34th Annual Scientific and Educational Meeting of the Canadian Association on Gerontology
Country/TerritoryCanada
CityHalifax
Period20/10/0522/10/05
Internet address

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