“Children’s Departures from Traditional Marital Pathways and Parental Mental Health in China,” Feinian Chen, Johns Hopkins University

POPULATION STUDIES WORKSHOP

Abstract: Using four waves (2011–2018) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), this study examines how adult children’s departures from normative marital pathways—prolonged singlehood and marital dissolution—affect parental mental health in China. Both deviations are associated with higher parental CES-D scores, with marital dissolution exerting a stronger effect. Depressive symptoms related to singlehood rise sharply once adult children enter their late twenties, whereas the impact of marital dissolution is stable across age. Adverse effects are stronger among rural and less-educated parents, who are more likely to adhere to traditional norms, and when adult children are sons, reflecting the enduring patrilineal legacy. These effects are also amplified in contexts of stronger intergenerational interdependence, including when adult children have limited socioeconomic resources, coreside with parents, or have children of their own. Together, these findings show how the second demographic transition—marked by rising nonmarriage, delay in marriage, and increasing divorce—shapes parental mental health through lingering marital norms, conditioned by the strength of intergenerational ties.

Feinian Chen is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Hopkins Population Center at Johns Hopkins University, with a joint appointment in the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her research explores women’s work and family, intergenerational relationships, aging, and health over the life course. Her work has appeared in Annual Review of Sociology, American Sociological Review, Demography, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, and Journal of Marriage and Family. Her research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Hewlett Foundation. Her recent work focuses on family transitions, women’s empowerment, and health disparities in transitional societies across East, South, and Southeast Asia.

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