介绍:
Xiaohua: We used to think most young people don’t want to live with their parents. They need some time alone. However, a recent survey shows the situation to be otherwise. According to the recent survey, while the majority of young respondents are willing to live with their parents, 80% of senior residents prefer to live independently. Do you think the result actually make sense？
Liu Yan: Not necessarily. Because, first of all, this survey is jointly conducted by the Shanghai Women Federation and Fudan University. Well, if you just look at these two bodies, maybe they are trustworthy; However, if you look at the sample, they had only more than three hundreds respondents to a certain questionnaire. So, no matter how you judge it, I mean, three hundred, is just too small a sample.
John: Not even that, I mean, they even said that 40% of their respondents were aged 31 to 50, and yet somehow, their most interesting findings are from people who are 30 and under and from people who are 50 and over. So you look at almost, so 40%, that’s almost half, right? So 120 of these respondents were from 31 to 50. So 180, Let’s just split it up, so that’s 90 in the younger. I mean, that’s almost nothing when it comes to statistical significance.
Xiaohua：And also I do think there are some problems with the wording of the questionnaire. Therefore, I do not quite understand what the outcomes can be interpreted as. So they are saying that 75% of the young respondents say that they are willing to live their parents if the conditions allow. Does that mean they warmly welcome to their parents, or does that mean that if…
Liu Yan: If they are forced into such situation….
Xiaohua: Yes. They have no choice but have to accept this.
John: Which is interesting, you know, 10 years ago, if you were to ask a similar question, you know at States, I think this figure would be lower. They would be willing, I think, a lot of younger people would not have been willing where in US, it has changed quite a bit. So, yeah, it not about yes I want to live with my parents cause I love them so much or whatever. No. what they are saying is if I have to I will.
Xiaohua: Yeah, I think that is pretty much the underlying meaning here. So, that’s why I don’t think that the two different results can be compared together. Because one is saying that the younger people say ‘Okay. I can live my parents if I have to.’ But on the other hand, the older respondents say if healthy that they rather live by themselves and probably with their spouse, I guess. But then again, still a large number of respondents say that they don’t want to live in retirement home. So what does that mean? Does that mean that probably living at home is probably their most comfortable way of spending retirement life, maybe?
Liu Yan: Well, I think there is another problem we need to consider, because I believe a lot of elderly people, they have this rooted idea that if I admit I would like to live in a nursery home or something like that, that’s losing face. Because people would construe that as I don’t have a very good son or daughter because they don’t want to be pious sons and daughters, and things like that, maybe that’s why they keep saying this.
Xiaohua: I do think that you know, as unscientific as the survey is, we could probably still see something. For example, the one we just talk about, about the elderly parents not wanting to go to retirement homes. I think that percentage is still quite high
John: Well, I think it’s just depends on the perception of the industry itself. I mean, in the United States, at least, you know nursing home, they get a pretty bad rep. So I think you ask most older people of they want to live in a nursing home, they probably gonna say no. But if you ask them if they wanna live in a retirement community, they might say yes. Right, because the business model is a bit different there. Nursing home, you know, also kind of implies that someone is taking care of you and you live in a small room, and you know, you don’t actually get that much interaction. You don’t go outside of your room very often. And there are different business models around taking care of older people. But, I think it is interesting, because you know, as Liu Yan mentioned, when you look at self-reporting like this, the factors of shame, losing face are always going to come in. And looking at the younger people, I think you know, they have less reason to do so. But older people, perhaps, they say that they do not or do not want to live in a nursing home, because again, they might lose face or be shameful. But also the flip side of that is perhaps that so few of them said they want to live their kids because they didn’t want to seem like they are trying to burden their children or something like that.
Xiaohua: Do you think there is also the factor of not wanting to take care of the grandkids for the children?
John: I doubt it.
Liu Yan: Yeah. From what I can see, most elderly people are very excited about the prospect of actually taking care of a baby. So I don’t think that’s the reason.
John: Yeah. I know. Looking at the Chinese culture, it is always amazing to me how, I guess, it’s just Asian culture in general somehow. But I mean you compare it with the western culture, and Chinese people love kids. It doesn’t matter how old you are. If you see a five year-old boy or girl, almost always there is gonna to be some kind of ‘Aww…’you know, kind of reaction.
Liu Yan：Yeah. That’s true.
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