Society

74% of young feel incompetent to tend the old

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-08-18 16:38

As more post-1980s people are setting up families, most young couples are beginning to face the difficulty of tending to their aged parents, according to a survey conducted by the Social Investigation Center of China Youth Daily.

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Among the 1,612 respondents, 74.1 percent feel incompetent to take care of their parents; 68.4 percent have responsibility for several old relatives; 50.1 percent live in different cities than their parents.

Among the respondents, 57.3 percent were born in the 1980s, 28.1 percent were born in the 1970s and 40.1 percent were only children.

The most wanted resources for the old are domestic help, round-the-clock care when they are ill and care for their mental and emotional needs, said Yao Yuan, professor of the Center for Population and Development Studies of Renmin University of China.

The survey also showed that only 6.9 percent of people are willing to send their parents to nursing homes. According to Professor Yao, two main factors are responsible. People are unsatisfied with the services and prices of the nursing homes. Also, old people tend to feel deserted after leaving their familiar surroundings.

The survey also found that 76 percent expect the social security system can be integrated between different cities, 51 percent expect new housing can be developed for the young and the old to live together while protecting individual privacy and 40.6 percent hold that hospitals should enlarge their nursing staff.