Social and Psychological Implications of Actual and De-Facto Childlessness among Older Persons in East and Southeast Asia

Bussarawan Teerawichitchainan, National University of Singapore
Jung-Hwa Ha , Seoul National University

We examine how aging without children is linked to older adults’ social participation and psychological distress in selected East and Southeast Asian countries (South Korea, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar). Recognizing the nuances of such aging experience, we distinguish between actual childlessness (elderly without children) and de-facto childlessness (elderly whose all children lived faraway). We harmonize and analyze recent nationally-representative survey data from the five countries utilizing both descriptive and multivariate approaches. First, we investigate prevalence and dimensions of actual and de-facto childlessness. Second, we examine the extent to which actual and de-facto childlessness are associated with old-age social participation and psychological distress. The analyses focus on gender and wealth differentials. We find that actual childlessness is associated with lower social participation in Southeast Asian countries and greater psychological distress in Korea, Thailand, and Myanmar. The effects of de-facto childlessness are mixed. We discuss social and psychological implications of childlessness for older adults across varying societal contexts of the five Asian countries.

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 Presented in Session P1. Fertility, Family, Life Course