Intergenerational Support Exchange within Chinese, British and European Families

该奖学金使我能够从四个方面扩展我的博士研究。首先，我将发表博士论文，研究代际支持交换的变化与中国老年人健康状况之间的关系。我的博士研究发现，近年来，老年人接受成年子女非正式照顾的比例有所下降，这是由于两代人之间的地理距离越来越远。尽管如此，在2011年至2015年期间，获得双向代际经济支持的比例有所增加。此外，随着智能手机和社交媒体应用的普及，远程联系逐渐取代了传统的面对面联系方式。代际支助的新形式意味着新的可能性，一种支助的减少不一定表明整个代际关系的恶化。以研究成果为基础的论文将被发表并提交给成熟的学术期刊。第二，代际支持交换是否与老年人的健康状况以及这种联系的强度有关，这是一个根据文化背景可能有不同回答的问题。作为我对马克斯普朗克人口研究所的机构访问的一部分，我基于CHARLS， ELSA和SHARE的一波数据（2014/15）对这一主题进行了研究，并发现祖父母参与孙辈照顾的程度在英国并不强。此外，南欧国家的祖父母提供孙辈照顾的可能性较小，但与北欧国家和中国的祖父母相比，他们的照顾力度更大。重要的是，南欧国家的祖父母最有可能报告有抑郁症状，其次是中国和北欧国家，这与他们（密集）提供孙辈照顾有关。在学习期间，我计划将CHARLS， ELSA和SHARE的另外两波数据（2010/11和2012/13）纳入我的分析中来完成研究项目。该项目将产生一篇期刊文章和一份政策简报。第三，对国家发改委进行研究访问对研究合作和影响有显著的好处。我计划在访问发改委期间，将我的研究成果传播给政策制定者和从业者，学术和非学术的受众，即国家老龄委员会，国家卫生健康委员会，这有助于更好地了解中国代际支持的交流，改善代际关系。作为一个主题，代际间的支持流动对日常家庭生活至关重要，并引起广泛受众的兴趣，而从中吸取的教训也对全球其他情况具有影响。最后，奖学金有助于产生我的博士研究影响。在学术影响方面，除了出版出版物外，我计划在CPC研讨会系列中发表我的研究研讨会，并参加国际会议以展示我的研究成果。对于非学术影响，我的目标是让当地利益相关者参与，例如南安普敦当地的年龄关注团体和护理团体，以及汉普郡议会在研究的各个阶段。与利益相关者密切合作，并在不同阶段与他们沟通，以获得知识，这是研究的资产。我还将利用我的导师和导师的现有网络，向AgeUK、DWP和ONS人口与老龄化中心展示我的研究成果，提高国家决策者对研究的认识，并加强工业战略“健康老龄化”挑战的证据基础。

The fellowship enables me to extend my PhD research mainly in four ways.Firstly, I will produce publications from my PhD, which examined the association between the changes in intergenerational support exchange and the health status of older Chinese people. My PhD study found that the proportion of older people receiving informal care from their adult children has declined in recent years, resulting from increasing geographical distance between the two generations. Despite this, the proportion of having bidirectional intergenerational economic support increased over time between 2011 and 2015. Moreover, distant contact has gradually replaced the traditional way of in-person contact, with the popularisation of smart mobile phones and social media apps. New forms of intergenerational support imply new possibilities, and an assumption that a reduction in one type of support may not necessarily indicate a deterioration in intergenerational relations as a whole. Papers based on the research findings will be produced and submitted to well-established academic journals.Secondly, whether intergenerational support exchange has an association with the health status of older people and the strength of such association is a question which may be answered differently depending on the cultural context. I conducted research on this topic based on one wave of data (2014/15) from the CHARLS, ELSA and SHARE as part of my institutional visit to the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, and found that the involvement of grandparents in their grandchildren's care was not strong in England. Moreover, grandparents in southern European countries were less likely to provide grandchild care but do so more intensively than their counterparts in northern European countries and China. Importantly, grandparents in southern European countries were most likely to report having depressive symptoms, followed by China and northern European countries, which were associated with their (intensive) provision of grandchild care. During the fellowship, I plan to complete the research project by including another two waves of data (2010/11 and 2012/13) from the CHARLS, ELSA and SHARE in my analysis. One journal article and one policy brief will be produced from this project.Thirdly, undertaking a research visit to the CPDRC is significantly beneficial for research collaboration and impact. I plan to disseminate my research findings to policy makers and practitioners, academic and non-academic audiences, i.e. the National Ageing Committee, the National Health Commission during my visit to the CPDRC, which help to better understand the exchange of intergenerational support and improve intergenerational ties in China. Intergenerational flows of support as a topic are crucial to everyday family life and of interest to a wide range of audiences, while the lessons to be learnt also have implications for other contexts globally.Finally, the fellowship helps to generate research impact from my PhD. In terms of academic impact, in addition to producing publications, I plan to deliver a seminar on my research within the CPC Seminar series and attend international conferences to present my research findings. For non-academic impact, I aim to engage local stakeholders, such as local groups of Age Concern and carer groups in Southampton and the Hampshire County Council at all stages of the research. Working closely with stakeholders and communicating with them at different stages enable knowledge, which are an asset to the research. I will also make use of the existing networks of my supervisors and mentor and present my research findings to AgeUK, DWP and ONS Centre for Demography & Ageing, raising awareness of the research amongst national policy makers and strengthening the evidence base for the 'Healthy Ageing' Challenge of the Industrial Strategy.