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

Mental health is one of the important dimensions of health, while depression is an important indicator of mental health evaluation.

To investigate the association between intergenerational emotional support and depression of non-cohabiting parents (≥ 45 years old) in China.

We used the fourth wave data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (2015). The data was made up of ten main modules, the associated two datasets, and five constructed datasets. The first step is to select the corresponding module data according to the purpose of this study. Moreover, the data of the six modules are integrated by the unique ID code and we choose depression and non-cohabiting items as the selection conditions. 4810 samples were selected, which mainly included data on intergenerational emotional support and the individual scores on depressive symptoms.

The average age of 4810 respondents was (60.56 ± 14.613) years old. Females were accounted for more than half of the samples (52.6%). 74.0% respondents from rural areas and approximately 63.3% of the participants had a chronic disease. The mean value of the CESD-10 score was 13.06 (SD5.225). Both faces to face and phone contacts were protective factors on depression symptoms in the mid-aged and seniors in China (P < 0.05). In terms of the frequency of face to face contact, the more frequently you met your parents, the lower your parents' depressive score was. Also, phone contact variable results are displayed as a positive correlation completely between inter-generational contacts from children and depressive symptoms in non-cohabiting parents in China. Children's education level and income level were also reducing the risk of depression in non-cohabiting parents. However, gender, children's numerous, chronic disease and chronic disease number were the risk factors.

Intergenerational emotional support is associated with depressive symptoms in non-cohabiting parents in China. However, the relationship was also affected by other variables.