Offspring caregivers’ depression affected by intergenerational disagreements on preferred living arrangement for the elderly: A phenomena with Chinese characteristic

This study aimed to explore whether the depression of offspring caregivers can be affected by the intergenerational disagreements on preferred living arrangements for the elderly, and the extent of this influence.A total of 875 participants from five urban neighborhoods were investigated in a cross-sectional survey in Jinan, China. Depressive symptoms were assessed by the Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS). Multiple stratification was performed based on participants' characteristics, then generalized linear models (GLM) were used to adjust confounding factor and analyze the effect of the intergenerational disagreements on depressive symptoms among participants with different characteristics.The intergenerational disagreements on preferred living arrangements for the elderly greatly impact on offspring caregivers' depressive symptoms. Especially in the following two situations: (1) in the case of older adults were relatively independent and offspring caregivers had to co-reside with older adults against their own will, the max mean difference on the depression measures was up to 10.603 (p0.001), in comparison with both parties were willing to co-reside. (2) In the case of older adults were fully dependent and offspring caregivers had not to hire a maid to care older adults against their own will, the max mean difference on the depression measures was up to 8.937 (p0.001), in comparison with both parties were willing not to hire a maid.Intergenerational disagreements on preferred living arrangement for the elderly have negative effect on offspring caregivers' depressive symptoms.