老年亲子关系与抑郁症状——对保定市老年父母的研究

Parent-child Relations and Depressive Symptoms -A Study of the Aging Parents in Baoding City, Hebei Province, China

1949年以来中国传统的老年父母与子女关系的变化已经引起了学界的广为关注，但较少有学者对这一关系的变化可能对于老年父母心理健康的影响进行研究。本文运用保定市老龄化与代际关系研究的经验资料，对老年父母与子女关系的不同方面及其与老年父母心理健康之间的关系进行了初步研究。研究发现，老年父母与子女关系的不同方面和老年父母的心理健康有着显著的关联，其中，父母与子女之间的紧张关系对于老年父母的心理健康影响最大，其次是父母与子女之间的情感支持。子女的特征及老年父母与子女的联系以及两代人之间的工具性支持和经济支持对于老年父母心理健康的影响相对较小。研究结果提示老年工作者在服务老年人时要特别关注他们与子女之间的关系，要通过发展相关项目来消除代与代之间的紧张关系，促进代与代之间的情感支持，增进代际和谐，从而更好地提高老年人心理健康水平。

The changing parent-child relations in China since 1949 have received increasing attention of researchers, yet, only very few studies ever explored the implications of this change for the psychological well-being of older parents. Using survey data collected by the research program ＂Aging and Intergenerational relations in Baoding City＂ , this paper examined the association between different dimensions of parent-child relations and psycho- logical well-being of older parents. Results showed that all dimensions of parent-child relations examined in the study were significantly associated with parent psychological well-being. Specifically, the strain ties between parents and children have the greatest, while the emotional support provided from each generation to the other has the second greatest, effects on the psychological well-being of the older parents. Comparatively, the characteristics of children, contact between parent and children, and the instrumental and financial support between generations have lesser effects. The results imply that the gerontological social workers should pay special attention to parent-child relations and accordingly provide relevant services to them so as to better enhance the older parents＇ psychological well-being.