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Intergenerational Ties in Context: Grandparents Caring for Grandchildren in China
Open accessAbstract
Guided by theories and empirical research on intergenerational relationships, we examine the phenomenon of grandparents caring for grandchildren in contemporary China. Using a longitudinal dataset (China Health and Nutrition Survey), we document a high level of structural and functional solidarity in grandparent-grandchildren relationships. Intergenerational solidarity is indicated by a high rate of coresidence between grandchildren and grandparents, a sizable number of skipped-generation households (no parent present), extensive childcare involvement by non-coresidential grandparents, and a large amount of care provided by coresidential grandparents. Multivariate analysis further suggests that grandparents' childcare load is adaptive to familial needs, as reflected by the characteristics of the household, household members, and work activities of the mothers.
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“Intergenerational solidarity is seen in extensive childcare provided by grandparents, in the form of either coresidence (including skippedgeneration arrangements, with no parent present) or support provided by noncoresident grandparents (Chen et al. 2011).”
From The Social and Sociological Consequences of China's One-Child Policy (2021) · cites this paper as Chen et al. 2011
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“With only one child, parents are making more of an effort to invest in their children's education and to pay for their housing and other expenses (Davis & Sensenbrenner 2000, Zhai & Gao 2010, Chen et al. 2011).”
From The Social and Sociological Consequences of China's One-Child Policy (2021) · cites this paper as Chen et al. 2011
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Metadata
- Authors
- Chen, F., Liu, G., & Mair, C. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- North Carolina State University (US)
- University of Maryland, Baltimore County (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chen, F.
- ORCID
- Venue
- Social Forces
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2011-12-01
- Volume
- 90
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 571-594
- ISSN
- 0037-7732 (ISSN-L)
- 1534-7605
- PMC
- PMC3337769
- OpenAlex
- W2065101978
- Cited by
- 685
- References
- 76
- Citations by year
- 2026: 69 · 2025: 79 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 70 · 2022: 56 · 2021: 77 · 2020: 109 · 2019: 57 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 10 · 2013: 8
- FWCI
- 20.36
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Social Forces (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Maryland Shared Open Access Repository (USMAI Consortium) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Duke Law Scholarship Repository (Duke University) (submittedVersion)
- Digital Repository at the University of Maryland (University of Maryland College Park)
- Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (K01HD047369)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational Family Dynamics and Caregiving
- Social Sciences › Demography › Family Dynamics and Relationships
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Intergenerational and Educational Inequality Studies
- Keywords
- intergenerational ties, grandparent-grandchild relationships, grandparents caring for grandchildren, co-residence, skipped-generation households, child care, intergenerational solidarity, family structure, maternal employment, China
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