This study explores explanations for Chinese elders’ willingness or lack of willingness to use institutional care. The data is drawn from a survey over intergenerational relationships and age models conducted in Zhenjiang, China, in 2007. Only the responses of interviewees aged 55 and above (310 males and 318 females) were used in this study. Using zero-order correlation and multi-nominal regression analyses, this study examined the factors associated with Chinese elders’ willingness to use institutional care. Study results reveal that Chinese elders’ confidence in availability of familial care was negatively related to their willingness to use institutional care; elders’ knowledge about and impression on elder care homes were positively associated with their willingness. Male interviewees expressed lower levels of willingness compared to female respondents. This study shows that increased knowledge about elder care institution may increase Chinese elders’ willingness to accept institutional elder care.

This study explores the association between intergenerational relationships and life satisfaction among urban elders in China, with a focus on the emotional dimension of intergenerational solidarity. Individual factors, effects of associational, affectual, functional and structural solidarity were examined by analyzing data collected from the Zhenjiang City Intergenerational Relationship Survey (ZJIRS) in 2007, Jiangsu province, China. Study results revealed that elders’ marital status, educational background, pension, and self-rated health were closely related to the degree of intergenerational solidarity. A higher level of education, possession of a medical insurance, and better heath condition had a positive relationship with elders’ life satisfaction. Through the comparison of intergenerational exchanges from both parents and children, the study found that Chinese elders had the highest level of life satisfaction when they receive more frequent contacts, financial support, and affection from their children. This study might contribute to the existing body of literature in the overall theoretic understandings of intergenerational solidarity, life satisfaction, as well as the association between specific dimensions of intergenerational solidarity and older adults’ life satisfaction.

In recent years, growing numbers of Mainland Chinese elders are participating in Christian congregations during short visits or extended stays in the U.S. This thesis explores social and cultural factors that explain these immigrant elders’ involvement with Christianity while in the U.S. Based on face-to-face interviews with 20 Mainland Chinese elders living in Atlanta as well as participant observation at a Chinese Christian church and with a Bible study group, this study finds that loneliness and social isolation in a foreign land are the main reasons for Mainland Chinese elders’ participation in Christian activities. Besides religious services, social service functions of churches and opportunities for fellowship are other factors explaining church involvement. Long immersion with China’s religious history of syncretism renders these elders receptive to spiritual alternatives, such as Christianity, especially when dominant ideologies of Confucianism and Communism seem to be in decline in China. But most elders approach their Christian involvement with pragmatic selectivity based more on secular than religious considerations. In conclusion, I argue that social isolation and minority ethnic status, Chinese Christian Churches’ social functions, and current social contexts in China are all factors that help explain Chinese elders’ religious involvement in the U.S.