DOMESTIC ELDER ABUSE AMONG CHINESE MIGRANT OLD PARENTS: A STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING

Abstract

Many Chinese old parents migrated with their adult children to live in a new city. Being a migrant and dependent on adult children coupled with the elderly are vulnerable to domestic abuse. The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing domestic elder abuse among Chinese internal migrating families. A total of 601 participants were recruited from communities in Wenzhou city using multiple-stage sampling. Data were collected by a package of questionnaires. Structural equation modeling by AMOS software was used to test the model.

The results showed the final model fit the empirical data (χ2 = 632.352, p = .000, df = 140, χ2/ df = 4.517, GFI = .894, AGFI = .857, CFI = .905, RMSEA = .078). The final model consisted of adult children dependency, filial piety, migrant old parent’s mental health, social isolation, intergenerational ambivalence, which explained 64% of the variance of domestic elder abuse. Intergenerational ambivalence had a direct effect on domestic elder abuse. Adult children dependency, filial piety, migrant old parents’ mental health, social isolation had both direct and indirect effects on domestic elder abuse. These findings suggested that nurses could help to prevent domestic elder abuse among migrant old parents by promoting their mental health, their children’s filial piety, and harmony intergenerational relationship.

-