ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Psychology of Aging
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1621444
Age-specific associations between intergenerational support from children and depression in middle-aged and elderly Chinese: Results from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
- 2Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, China
- 3Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
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Objectives: To assess the age-specific associations between intergenerational support from children and depression in middle-aged and elderly Chinese.Methods: In total, 11398 adults aged ≥45 who participated in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2018 were included. Depression was assessed using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Logistic regression analysis was performed to examine the effects of offline companionship, online companionship, money support, and goods support from children on the depression status of middle-aged and elderly people.Results: Among people aged 80 and above, offline companionship is associated with a reduced risk of depression (OR = 0.573, 95% CI: 0.372, 0.883). However, online companionship may be associated with an increased risk of depression in individuals aged 45-60. Money support was found to have a positive association with depression in individuals aged 45-60 (OR = 1.182, 95% CI: 1.005, 1.389), but a negative association in those aged 60-80 (OR = 0.767, 95% CI: 0.632, 0.930). Goods support is associated with a decreased risk of depression in individuals aged 45-80.For individuals aged 45-60, children can offer valuable goods support to mitigate parental depression. In the 60-80 age group, both money and goods support are essential. For those over 80, increased offline companionship is recommended.
Keywords: Intergenerational support, Children, Depression, Middle-aged and elderly, Chinese
Received: 01 May 2025; Accepted: 02 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lu, Zhang, Zhou, He, Zhu and Mao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Bin Zhu, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
Ying Mao, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
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