Impress of intergenerational emotional support on the depression in non-cohabiting parents

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the study sample (4810)

Variables		mean/n (%)	SD
Dependent variable	Depressive symptoms (CESD-101 score) (0-30)	13.06	5.225
Independent variable	Face to face	3.94	2.546
	Almost every day	1224 (25.4)
	2-3 times a week	448 (9.3)
	Once a week	532 (10.9)
	Every two weeks	434 (9)
	Once a month	526 (10.9)
	Once every three months	494 (10.3)
	Once every six months	502 (10.4)
	Once a year	516 (10.7)
	Almost never	33 (0.7)
	Missing	110 (2.3)
	Phone contact	2.95	2.302
	Almost every day	531 (11)
	2-3 times a week	809 (16.8)
	Once a week	1086 (22.6)
	Every two weeks	655 (13.6)
	Once a month	471 (9.8)
	Once every three months	108 (2.2)
	Once every six months	47 (1)
	Once a year	15 (0.3)
	Almost never	301 (6.3)
	Missing	787 (16.4)
Demographic factors	Age	60.47	15.012
	45-50 (ref.)	583 (12.1)
	51-60	1479 (30.7)
	61-70	1543 (32.1)
	71-	1011 (21)
	Missing	194 (4)
	Gender
	Male (ref.)	2310 (48)
	Female	2494 (51.9)
	Missing	6 (0.1)
	Children’s number	2.77	1.316
	1 child	842 (17.5)
	2 children	1548 (32.2)
	3 children	1024 (21.3)
	4 children	644 (13.4)
	5 and above	752 (15.6)
	Gender of family children2
	Male	1086 (22.6)
	Female	748 (15.6)
	Both	2940 (61.1)
	Missing	36 (0.7)
Socio-economic factors	Education level3 (children)
	Illiterate	1 (0.0)
	1-6 years education	756 (15.7)
	7-12 years education	2509 (52.2)
	13 years education and above	1538 (32.0)
	Missing	6 (0.1)
	Income (children)4	2.96	1.215
	No income	946 (19.7)
	1-10000 yuan	271 (5.6)
	10001-50000 yuan	2139 (44.5)
	50001-100000 yuan	920 (19.1)
	More than 100000 yuan	534 (11.1)
	Areas of China
	Urban	1224 (25.4)
	Rural (ref.)	3559 (74.0)
	Missing	27 (0.6)
Current health conditions	Chronic disease
	No	1767 (36.7)
	Yes	3043 (63.3)
	Chronic diseases number5	1.97	0.846
	1	1143 (37.6)
	2	860 (28.3)
	3 and above	1040 (34.2)

¹CEDS-10: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Range 0-30, Mean = 13.06, SD = 5.225);

²Gender of family children: Classify all children in the family by sex into three categories (1 = male; 2 = female; 3 = both);

³Education level: Including 11 levels, 1 = no formal education (illiterate); 2 = didn’t finish primary school but could read and/or write; 3 = sishu/home school; 4 = elementary school; 5 = middle school; 6 = high school; 7 = vocational school; 8 = two or three-year college/associate degree; 9 = four-year college/bachelor degree; 10 = master degree; 11 = doctoral degree/PH.D. (were grouped into 4 groups based on the quartiles: 1 = 1 no formal education (illiterate); 2 = 2-4 (1-6years education); 3 = 5-7 (7-12 years education); 4 = 8-11 (13years education and above);

⁴Income: Total income of children in the past year, ranging from 1 (no income) to 12 (more than 300000 yuan);

⁵Chronic disease’s number: Total number of diagnosed chronic diseases (hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes or high blood glucose, cancer or malignant tumor, chronic lung diseases, liver disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, stomach or other digestive disease, emotional or psychiatric problems, memory-related diseases, arthritis or rheumatism, asthma) (range 0-14, Mean = 1.97, SD = 0.846).