ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1585456
This article is part of the Research TopicPublic Health Outcomes: The Role of Social Security Systems in Improving Residents' Health Welfare, Volume IIView all 10 articles
Family endowments and multidimensional poverty among urban older adults living alone
Provisionally accepted
- 1School of Social Development, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China
- 2Center for Applied Science in Health and Aging, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States
- 3Center for Applied Science in Health and Aging, Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States
- 4Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, United States
- 5Department of Physical Education, Nanjing University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
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Background: Disparities in family endowments play a pivotal role in shaping the multidimensional poverty among urban older adults living alone (UOALA).This study conducted an empirical analysis using data from 1656 UOALA in five different cities in China to investigate the relationship between family endowments and the occurrence of multidimensional poverty among UOALA.The findings illustrate an expanding and deepening scale of poverty among UOALA, particularly manifested in dimensions of physical health and mental well-being. Females, super-aged adults, and those residing in non-first-tier cities exhibit higher levels of poverty incidence and depth. The study also reveals that while the number of children in a family does not significantly impact multidimensional poverty in UOALA, factors such as children's proximity of residence and financial situation play a significant role. Moreover, gender differences are observed in the influence of sons and daughters on the poverty status of UOALA.Enhancing family eldercare support capacity and improving societal welfare levels emerge as critical policy measures to prevent UOALA from falling into Multidimensional Poverty.
Keywords: urban older adults living alone1, Multidimensional poverty2, family endowments3, household eldercare capacity4, Intergenerational support5
Received: 28 Feb 2025; Accepted: 15 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Yin, Cui, Bai, Wu, Zhai and Crandall. 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:
Xingxing Yin, School of Social Development, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
Jinghang Cui, Center for Applied Science in Health and Aging, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States
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