Rural Left-Behind Elderly In The Social Change

Rural elderly being left-behind is a unique phenomenon in the background of China's social change.A combination of "elderly","rural" and "left-behind" leads to the stereotype and stigma of rural left-behind elderly(RLBE),who are considered to be the victim of social change,lonely,unhappy,poor and out-of-date.This research did in-depth field study in rural areas,aimed to explore real living conditions and inner feelings of rural elderly and left-behind elderly in the contrast with urban elderly,and to examine the realistic basis of stereotype and its differences with reality by using well-being as the evaluating indicator.The research contained two parts:stereotype of RLBE and RLBE's subjective well-being.Each part contained a quantitative study and a qualitative study;thus,the research had four studies.Study 1 used the experimental method and compared people's explicit and implicit stereotype of elderly,rural elderly and RLBE,in order to find out which word invoked stereotype:"elderly","rural" or "left-behind".By accidental sampling,from urban areas of Beijing and Shanghai,as well as urban and rural areas of Shandong and Hunan,661 Ss aged 18?59 but of different age and educational level were recruited.Ss were randomly assigned to three groups,each group answered questions about stereotype of one target group:elderly(N = 230),rural elderly(N= 213)or RLBE(N= 218).Free response was used to measure explicit stereotype and stereotype explanatory bias paradigm(SEB)was used to measure implicit stereotype.On the basis of Study 1,Study 2 used semi-structured interview to further explore stereotype of RLBE.By snowball technique and advertisement recruitment,47 Ss aged 18?59 were recruited(also from urban and rural areas of Beijing,Shanghai,Shandong and Hunan,but no Ss from study 1 was recruited).In-depth semi-structured interviews were taken,about participants' impression on RLBE,sources of the impression,feeling and coping if participants themselves,their parents or grandparents became RLBEs.Each participant was interviewed 20 to 70 minutes.Grounded theory was used to analyze the transcript of 250,000 words.Study 3 used questionnaires and compared the subjective well-being of urban and rural elderly,RLBE and non-RLBE,in order to explore the impact of "elderly","rural" and "left-behind" on well-being.The study also used multiple hierarchical linear regression to explore predictive factors of well-being.By cluster stratified random sampling,733 Ss aged 60 and above were recruited.They came from two large cities(Beijing and Shanghai,N = 282),two small counties(Q of Shandong and L of Hunan,N = 183)and rural areas of the two counties(N = 268).Accoring to living arrangements,among rural elderly,91 Ss belonged RLBE and 177 Ss belonged to non-RLBE.The questionnaire combined a revised Memorial University of Newfoundland Scale of Happiness(MUNSH)and self-made survey.Dependent variable were well-being and loneliness;independent variables contained living region(large city,small county and rural area),left-behind(yes,no),comparison and attribution;control variables was demographic variables such as age and gender.On the basis of Study 3,Study 4 used ethnography to future explore the well-being and adaptation of RLBE.Ethnography combined involved observation,semi-structured interview,informal interview,one-by-one interview and group interview together.From Jan.2013 to June.2016,the researcher came to the rural areas of L county,Hunan,for more than twenty times,and spent six months living together with two RLBE couples(one couple lived in a traditional village and one couple lived in a modern village).The study gained observational journal of 80,000 words,inverview transcript of 470,000 words and reflective journal of 80,000 words;and analyzed these data by grounded theory,holistic analysis,narrative analysis and discource analysis.The study also guaranteed the reliability and validity by ways such as receiving feedbacks from villagers.The results are summarized as follows:1)People had negative stereotype of RLBE;RLBE has been extremalizated and stigmatized.The main source of stereotype was negative reports of the media;the main content was "unhappy";the core characteristic was "lonely"."Elderly" invoked negative implicit stereotype;"rural" and "left-behind" invoked and intensified negative explicit stereotype.2)The stereotype of RLBE underestimated the negative impact of "rural" on elders' well-being,but overestimated the negative impact of "left-behind".Well-being of urban elderly were significantly higher than rural elderly;but among rural elderly,left-behind elderly and non-left-behind elderly had no significant differences in well-being.After controlling other demographic variables,living in rural areas still could significantly negatively predict well-being of elderly,while "left-beind" could not significantly predict well-being of rural elderly.Actually,it was the poor living conditions of rural areas affected elderly's well-being.3)The stereotype of RLBE ignored the initiative and enthusiasm of RLBEs.RLBEs could actively adapt and passively accept the social change.RLBEs started to care about their own needs,focus on marital relations and support themselves.They could not only actively adapt to social change,learn to find interests and choose a life style most suitable to them,but also passively accept and adapt to lives without children living nearby,social changes and limited resources.4)Traditional merits such as contentment,thriftiness helped RLBEs to cope with difficulties such as no children nearby and poor economic conditions,then to better adapt to social change and feel happy.They were protective factors of RLBEs' well-being,while,"being left-behind" was not a risk factor of well-being of rural elderly,deep emotional connection was more important for rural elderly than living together.5)Economy was the basis of well-being;after having certain economic basis,core factors affecting rural elderly' s well-being were in this order:parent-child relationship,comparison/mind state,economic satisfaction,health satisfaction and marial relationship.Elderly who had more good core factors,and could adjust and adapt to limited resources and make better choices,had higher well-being.