The Profile of Stress and Coping Related to Successful Aging Among Chinese Migrant and Nonmigrant Grandparents.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Around eight million older adults have internally migrated to take care of grandchildren in China. This study aimed to explore how Chinese migrant and nonmigrant grandparents perceived successful aging and how they coped with challenges to successful aging. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Based on ecological systems theory, semistructured interviews were conducted among 21 grandparents (12 migrants, median age = 59 years old) from urban areas in China who provided noncustodial grandchild care. Deductive content analysis was employed to examine the data pertaining to the definition of successful aging, the stressors encountered, and coping strategies employed by both groups. RESULTS: Findings revealed that both migrant and nonmigrant grandparents placed a higher emphasis on family prosperity than their own physical health, in their definitions of successful aging. Although both groups experienced common stressors in the microsystem (e.g., intergenerational conflicts), migrant grandparents uniquely encountered stressors in the mesosystem (e.g., hardships in their close relationships) and in the macrosystem (e.g., uncertainty in aging preparation). In terms of coping, migrant grandparents exhibited a distinctive pattern of utilizing avoidant coping strategies when navigating intergenerational conflicts and planning for their later life, compared to nonmigrant grandparents. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Our findings suggested that although migration was not associated with grandparents' definition of successful aging, migrant grandparents encountered specific challenges in achieving successful aging. This highlights the necessity of providing more support to grandparents through the family, community, or state, particularly to those who are migrants.

Association of the Combined Effects between Insulin-Like Growth Factor-1 Gene Polymorphisms and Negative Life Events with Major Depressive Disorder among Chinese population in the Context of Oxidative Stress.

Background: Oxidative stress may be increased in a number of psychiatric disorders, including major depressive disorder (MDD). MDD has been shown to be related to insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) as well as to negative life events; exploring the interaction of IGF-1 polymorphisms and negative life events on the risk of MDD is needed. The aim of this study was to analyze the single and combined effects of IGF-1 polymorphisms (rs972936 and rs978458) and negative life events with MDD among Chinese population. Methods: 420 MDD patients (according to DSM-V) and 420 age- and gender-matched control subjects were recruited in a case-control study. Negative life events were assessed using standard rating scales. IGF-1 rs972936 and rs978458 were identified by sequencing. The chi-square (χ 2) tests were performed to explore the association of negative life events and IGF-1 polymorphisms with MDD. Results: Our results found that the negative life events were associated with the risk of MDD (P < 0.001; OR = 3.28, 95% CI: 2.19-4.85). The genotypes of IGF-1 were associated with the risk of MDD (P < 0.001); carrying the IGF-1 rs972936 C allele (OR = 1.53, 95% CI: 1.26-1.85) and rs978458 T allele (OR = 1.92, 95% CI: 1.58-2.34) had a higher risk of MDD. The combined effects between IGF-1 rs978458 and negative life events were associated with the risk of MDD (P < 0.05; OR = 2.94, 95% CI: 1.23-7.03), but IGF-1 rs972936 was not associated (P > 0.05). Conclusions: Based on the oxidative stress hypothesis, we confirm that carrying IGF-1 rs972936 C allele and rs978458 T allele have a higher risk of MDD and the combined effects between IGF-1 rs978458 and negative life events were associated with the risk of MDD among Chinese population.

The Gender-Specific Interaction of DVL3 and GSK3ß Polymorphisms on Major Depressive Disorder Susceptibility in a Chinese Han Population: A Case-Control Study.

Based on the "oxidative stress hypothesis" of major depressive disorder (MDD), cells regulate their structure through the Wnt pathway. Little is known regarding the interactions of dishevelled 3 (DVL3) and glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (GSK3ß) polymorphisms with MDD. The aim of the current study was to verify the relationship between DVL3 and GSK3ß genetic variants in a Chinese Han population and further to evaluate whether these interactions exhibit gender-specificity. A total of 1136 participants, consisting of 541 MDD patients and 595 healthy subjects, were recruited. Five single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of DVL3/GSK3ß were selected to assess their interaction by use of a generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction method. The genotype and haplotype frequencies of DVL3/GSK3ß polymorphisms were significantly different between patients and controls for DVL3 rs1709642 (P < 0.01) and GSK3ß rs334558, rs6438552, and rs2199503 (P < 0.01). In addition, our results also showed that there were significant interaction effects between DVL3 and GSK3ß polymorphisms and the risk of developing MDD, particularly in women. The interaction between DVL3 (rs1709642) and GSK3ß (rs334558, rs6438552) showed a cross-validation (CV) consistency of 10/10, a P value of 0.001, and a testing accuracy of 59.22%, which was considered as the best generalized multifactor dimensionality reduction (GMDR) model. This study reveals the interaction between DVL3 and GSK3ß polymorphisms on MDD susceptibility in a female Chinese Han population. The effect of gender should be taken into account in future studies that seek to explore the genetic predisposition to MDD relative to the DVL3 and GSK3ß genes.

Do Social Timing and Gender Matter to Parental Depression Aroused by Traumatic Experience of Child Bereavement? Evidence from China.

Child loss is a rare but traumatic life event that often has a detrimental effect on parental wellbeing. However, parents' resources and strategies in coping with the stressful child bereavement event may depend on timing of the event. This study intends to examine how parental depression could be aroused by the occurrence and timing of child bereavement, and how the influences vary by child gender. Drawing on the theoretical framework of the stress and life course, and using three waves of data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we find that both the occurrence and timing of child bereavement are significantly associated with parental depression in later life. Bereaved parents are more likely to report depression than non-bereaved parents. Child bereavement in children's young adulthood is more likely to spark off parental depression than that occurring in children's midlife or later. Further analysis confirms that the timing effect of child bereavement differs by child gender. Parents whose son died during young adulthood are more likely to report depression than their counterparts whose daughter died. Future studies need to address how to build up a specific social welfare program targeting child bereavement groups in different life stages.

Revisiting the relationship between perceived discrimination and health: Evidence from sibling models with multiple health measures.

Perceived discrimination (PD) is known to be significantly related to health outcomes. This link, however, warrants further scrutiny due to the possibility of unobserved family-level confounding. Using the Add Health and sibling fixed-effect approach, we examine whether the relationship between PD and health is confounded by family background characteristics such as genetics, family environment, and childhood social context (school and neighborhood effects). While the naive OLS models exhibit significant associations between PD and both physical and psychological health outcomes, our preferred sibling fixed-effect estimates reveal that the observed associations between PD and physical health outcomes are confounded by shared family background. In contrast, the observed associations for psychological health, self-reported health, and some of health behavior outcomes are robust to adjustment for sibling fixed-effects. Furthermore, we find similar overall patterns in the link between PD and health across races/ethnicities.

Biases of Happy Faces in Face Classification Processing of Depression in Chinese Patients.

We explored the face classification processing mechanism in depressed patients, especially the biases of happy faces in face classification processing of depression. Thirty patients with the first episode of depression at the First Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University were selected as the depression group, while healthy people matched for age, gender, and educational level were assigned to the control group. The Hamilton Depression Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Scale were used to select the subjects; then, we used the forced face classification paradigm to collect behavioral (response time and accuracy) and event-related potential (ERP) data of the subjects. The differences between the groups were estimated using a repeated measurement analysis of variance. The total response time of classified faces in the depression group was longer than that in the control group, the correct rate was lower, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). N170 component analysis demonstrated that the latency of the depression group was prolonged, and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). When classifying happy faces, the depressed patients demonstrated a decrease in N170 amplitude and a prolongation of latency in some brain regions compared with the healthy individuals. The cognitive bias in depression may be due to prolonged processing of positive facial information and difficulty in producing positive emotional responses.

Spousal migration and married adults' psychological distress in rural China: The roles of intimacy, autonomy and responsibility.

Spousal separation due to migration is a prevalent phenomenon in the developing world, but its psychological consequences for left-behind partners are largely understudied. Using data from 2010, 2012 and 2014 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper first examined whether spousal migration causes rural married adults any psychological distress; this finding was then advanced by testing the mechanisms that could potentially explain the linkage between these two variables. Inverse Probability Weighting (IPW) for multivalued treatment effect models and paired Propensity Score Matching (PSM) have been used to correct the potential selection bias of spousal migration. The results show that prolonged spousal separation through migration increases the depressive symptoms of married adults in rural China, and the detrimental effects on left-behind spouses' psychological well-being can be explained by the reduced level of emotional intimacy between husband and wife, and partially by women becoming the master of the household. Considering that being the master of the household is accompanied by elevated stress levels associated with increasing family responsibilities, further examination showed that economic resources can buffer the negative effect associated with being the master of the household when the spouse migrates. However, we did not find that time use is an effective mechanism to link spousal migration and left-behind spouses' well-being.

Living arrangements and older People's labor force participation in Hong Kong, 1986-2016.

Using the 1% random sample of Hong Kong population census and by-census data (1986, 1991, 1996, 2001, 2006, 2011, 2016), we examine labor force participation (LFP) of older adults (aged 65+) and its association with living arrangements over a thirty-year span. Despite the large time period and the cohort variations in LFP, our cross-classified multilevel models (CCMM) showed a remarkably consistent linkage between the family context and older persons' LFP. Co-residence with adult children accompanies a lower level in older adults' LPF, compared with living alone or with the spouse only, but the extent of the reduction depends on the marital status of the children. Those living with married children have the lowest LFP, but living with unmarried children, sons in particular, increases the likelihood of employment compared with living with married children. We discuss the findings in light of changing macroeconomic conditions, marriage trends, and Chinese cultural traditions in Hong Kong.

Education and fertility decline in China during transitional times: A cohort approach.

We examine the effect of education on birth outcomes in China during the period of economic transition and large-scale changes in mass education and population control measures. Retrospective micro data from the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey and discrete time event history analysis are used to examine the fertility history of several cohorts of women born between 1945 and 1968. We observed births at different parities, distinguishing the education effect across cohorts and rural/urban sectors. We found differences across cohorts consistent with unique features of the Chinese context, such as the radical egalitarian era of educational expansion, and the Reform Era. We also found that despite the increase in some education levels across cohorts (e.g., junior high school in rural areas), birth chances were more likely to be concentrated among less educated women, suggesting the impact of factors related to returns to education and hence the desire for children.

The Transition to First Marriage in China, 1966-2008: An Examination of Gender Differences in Education and Hukou Status.

Using retrospective life history data from the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this study examines the entrance into first marriage in China, a country that has been experiencing profound socioeconomic changes for the past several decades. We examine educational differences across rural and urban regions and across gender as determinants of marriage. Results reveal that for rural women, increasing education (especially from the least educated to middle levels of education) decreases marriage chances. For urban women, increasing education does not affect their marriage chances, net of other factors. For the former, results are consistent with the broad East Asian cultural practice of women "marrying up." For the latter, we argue that modernizing forces (e.g., improvements in education) have reduced the incidence of this practice. We also find effects attributable to unique features of the Chinese institutional context, such as the rural/urban divide and effects of the household registration (Hukou) system.

Configural processing advantage for Mongoloid than Caucasian faces during the structure coding stage.

Configural processing is considered to be the hallmark of face expertise, which has been widely investigated by face global inversion (inversion effect) and local inversion (Thatcher effect). Using a passive detection task in which face stimuli are task-irrelevant, both the face inversion effect and the Thatcher effect on race perception of faces were investigated. We found that although the N170 inversion effect (enhanced and delayed N 170 for inverted than upright condition) was similar across races of faces, Chinese participants showed a larger N 170 Thatcher effect (enhanced N 170 to Thatcherized faces than normal faces) for Mongoloid faces. The present data indicates the perceptual advantage of configural changes for in-group than out-group faces.

Acculturation, gender disparity, and the sexual behavior of Asian American youth.

Asian American youth are less likely to be sexually active than adolescents from other ethnic groups; however, with acculturation, they may adopt the more liberal sexual norms of American society. Moreover, owing to differing parental expectations for sons and daughters about sexuality, gender disparity might exist in the adoption of American sexual norms. This article used the proportional hazards model and the generalized estimating equations Poisson model to examine how acculturation influences the initiation of sexual intercourse and the number of sexual partners. The results show that acculturation leads to more liberal sexual mores among Asian American youth. However, despite what might be expected from the sexual double standard, the models show that more acculturated females, as indicated by their use of English at home, had an earlier onset of sexual intercourse and a higher number of sexual partners. This is the opposite of what would be predicted by the sexual double standard theory. This might be due to the fact that Asian females tend to be more socially accepted by the host society than Asian males. Information on partners shows that Asian American females have more diversified racial backgrounds than their male counterparts. They are also more likely to have older sexual partners.

Gene by social context interactions for number of sexual partners among white male youths: genetics-informed sociology.

This study sets out to investigate whether introducing molecular genetic measures into an analysis of sexual partner variety will yield novel sociological insights. The data source is the white male DNA sample in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The authors' empirical gene-environment interaction analysis produces a robust protective effect of the 9R/9R genotype relative to the Any10R genotype in the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1). This protective effect tends to be lost in schools in which higher proportions of students start having sex early, as well as in individuals with relatively low cognitive ability. The genetics-informed socio logical analysis here suggests that explaining a human trait or behavior may require a theory that accommodates the complex interplay between social contextual and individual influences and genetic predispositions.

Dopamine transporter, gender, and number of sexual partners among young adults.

The dopamine transporter gene (DAT1) codes for a dopamine transporter protein, which limits the level and duration of dopamine receptor activation. The DAT1 gene is a strong candidate gene for reward-seeking behavior. This article reports compelling evidence for the association between the 40 bp variable number of tandem repeats in the DAT1 gene and the self-reported number of sexual partners among young adults in the United States using the sibling subsample of more than 2500 individuals who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. We performed tests of genotype-gender interaction as well as analyses stratified by gender. Among the males, possessing one or two alleles of the 10 repeat is associated with an 80-100% increase (P<0.0001, 2df) in the number of sexual partners as compared with the homozygotes for the 9 repeat. The association holds in race/ethnicity-stratified analyses, in Allison's procedure that tests population stratification, and in within-family fixed-effects models. Covariate adjustment for a standard set of socioeconomic factors including religiosity, family structure, parental education, marital and cohabitation history, and neighborhood poverty did not attenuate these associations. Discussion is provided why this finding is absent among females.

Age at first sexual intercourse, genes, and social context: evidence from twins and the dopamine D4 receptor gene.

We carried out two distinct types of genetic analysis with data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. The first was a non-DNA twin analysis using monozygotic (identical) and same-sex dizygotic (fraternal) twins. The second analysis investigates the association between age at first sexual intercourse and the 48-bp repeat polymorphism in the dopamine receptor D4 gene (DRD4). The twin analysis shows that MZ twins correlate their timing of first sex to a much greater extent than do the same-sex DZ twins. Our analysis of the polymorphisms in DRD4 indicates that those with an any-3R genotype experienced a risk of first sexual intercourse 23% (p = .016), 233% (p = .0001), 28% (p = .012), and 69% (p = .006) higher than those with an other/other (or any-4R) genotype in the all-ethnicities (n = 2,552), Asian, white, and Hispanic samples, respectively. The risk of first sex does not differ between the two genotypes in the African American sample. These results were obtained after adjusting the standard socioeconomic covariates, including gender, parental education, family structure, and community poverty in the regression model. Evidence from both twin and genetic-variant analyses points to a role of genes in the timing of first sexual intercourse.