The protective effect of taking care of grandchildren on elders’ mental health? Associations between changing patterns of intergenerational exchanges and the reduction of elders’ loneliness and depression between 1993 and 2007 in Taiwan

Tsai, Feng-Jen; Motamed, Sandrine; Rougemont, André

doi:10.1186/1471-2458-13-567

Table 1 Personal characteristics of elders, including self reported health status and intergenerational exchanges

From: The protective effect of taking care of grandchildren on elders’ mental health? Associations between changing patterns of intergenerational exchanges and the reduction of elders’ loneliness and depression between 1993 and 2007 in Taiwan

			Year
	Total		1993		1999		2007
	n = 5070		n = 914		n = 1792		n = 2292
Characteristics	n	%	n	%	n	%	n	%	chi-sq	p-value
Gender
Male	2630	51.87	510	55.80	960	53.57	1160	50.61	8.07	0.018
Female	2368	46.71	404	44.20	832	46.43	1132	49.39
Age (years)
60 ~ 69	1717	33.87	270	29.54	358	19.98	1089	47.51	396.53	<0.001
70 ~ 79	2243	44.24	451	49.34	1054	58.82	738	32.20
80 ~ 89	948	18.70	182	19.91	346	19.31	420	18.32
90 ~ 99	90	1.78	11	1.20	34	1.90	45	1.96
Education
Illiterate	1678	33.10	440	48.14	653	36.44	585	25.52	197.02	<0.0001
under high school	2737	53.98	359	39.28	935	52.18	1443	62.96
College and above	261	5.15	36	3.94	81	4.52	144	6.28
can read	318	6.27	76	8.32	122	6.81	120	5.24
Ethnicty
Fuchien	3374	66.55	617	67.51	1169	65.23	1588	69.28	21.97	0.001
Hakka	851	16.79	155	16.96	296	16.52	400	17.45
Mainlander	682	13.45	118	12.91	290	16.18	274	11.95
others	79	1.56	22	2.41	28	1.56	29	1.27
Living place
Large city	716	14.12	104	11.38	249	13.90	363	15.84	26.07	0.001
Big city	623	12.29	131	14.33	220	12.28	272	11.87
Small city	1125	22.16	190	20.79	393	21.93	542	23.65
Township	991	19.55	186	20.35	338	18.86	467	20.38
Rural area	1543	30.43	303	33.15	592	33.04	648	28.27
Employment status
No job	4230	83.43	776	84.90	1582	88.28	1872	81.68	73.34	<0.0001
Full time job	593	11.70	79	8.64	167	9.32	347	15.14
Part time job	175	3.45	59	6.46	43	2.40	73	3.18
Self-reported health status
good to normal	3338	65.84	630	68.93	1088	60.71	1620	70.68	47.49	<0.0001
bad to very bad	1659	32.72	283	30.96	704	39.29	672	29.32
Intergenerational emotional exchange
Partnership status
living with partner	1772	34.95	432	47.26	696	38.84	644	28.10	118.67	<0.0001
living without partner	3225	63.61	482	52.74	1096	61.16	1647	71.86
Co-residence with children
Yes	3191	62.94	624	68.27	1164	64.96	1403	61.21	15.59	<0.0001
No	1807	35.64	290	31.73	628	35.04	889	38.79
Take care of grandchildren
Yes	833	16.43	83	9.08	270	15.07	480	20.94	71.34	<0.0001
No	4165	82.15	831	90.92	1522	84.93	1812	79.06

#missing data is not shown in this table.

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ISSN: 1471-2458

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