Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. May 19, 2025; 15(5): 104113
Published online May 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i5.104113
Elderly care needs and factors influencing negative emotions among first-generation only child parents in a Chinese city
Rui Dong, Xiu-Xia Wang, Ling-Juan Zhang
Rui Dong, Ling-Juan Zhang, Department of Nursing, Shangqiu Medical College, Shangqiu 476000, Henan Province, China
Xiu-Xia Wang, Department of Geriatric Psychiatry, The Affiliated Guangji Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215137, Jiangsu Province, China
Author contributions: Dong R, Wang XX, Zhang LJ contributed equally to this work; Dong R designed the research study; Wang XX, Zhang LJ performed the primary literature and data extraction; Dong R analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; Dong R were responsible for revising the manuscript for important intellectual content; and all authors read and approved the final version.
Supported by General Projects of Henan Province Universities Humanities and Social Sciences Research in 2023, No. 2023-ZDJH-533.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Shangqiu Medical College.
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest for this article.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at dongrui_0129@163.com. Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Rui Dong, Department of Nursing, Shangqiu Medical College, No. 666 Yingbin Avenue, Shangqiu 476000, Henan Province, China. dongrui_0129@163.com
Received: December 13, 2024
Revised: January 20, 2025
Accepted: March 6, 2025
Published online: May 19, 2025
Processing time: 137 Days and 22.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

China has recently encountered severe challenges associated with population aging. Parents of first-generation only children face significant challenges regarding elderly care needs and the associated negative emotions.

AIM

To analyze the elderly care needs of first-generation only child parents in China and identify factors that influence negative emotions.

METHODS

This study used a cross-sectional design. Convenience sampling was used to select 1580 elderly individuals who met the inclusion criteria in a Chinese city between June and September 2022. A questionnaire was administered to collect general information about participants. Depression and anxiety were assessed using the patient health questionnaire-9 and generalized anxiety disorder-7 scale, respectively. A logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate the relevant correlations.

RESULTS

Among 1580 first-generation only child parents, 1120 (70.89%) preferred family based care, 324 (20.51%) opted for community care, and 136 (8.61%) chose institutional care, with 460 (29.11%) reporting negative emotions. Significant differences in the distribution of negative emotions among only child parents were observed based on age, marital status, living conditions, disability, type of chronic disease, frailty status, and family support (P < 0.05). The regression analysis indicated that disability, type of chronic disease, living environment, frailty status, and level of family support were independent risk factors for negative emotions among parents with only children (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Elderly care for parents of only children is primarily family-based. Independent risk factors for negative emotions in this group include disability, chronic disease type, and living environment.

Keywords: Aging; First generation; Only child; Elderly care needs; Negative emotions; Influencing factors

Core Tip: The rapid aging of the Chinese population has created significant challenges for first-generation only child parents concerning their elderly care needs and associated negative emotions. This study therefore assessed the elderly care needs of first-generation parents of only children in a Chinese city, to identify factors that influence negative emotions. Our findings indicate that these parents primarily rely on family-based care, with only a small proportion opting for community or institutional care. The independent risk factors for negative emotions include disability, chronic disease, living environment, frailty status, and family support. Health managers should screen for these risk factors, implement early preventive strategies, and enhance family support to alleviate negative emotions.