Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Given the one-child policy (1979–2016), many bereaved parents (mean age ˃ 60 years) in China have lost their only child. Yet, the social environment in which these parents continue their lives is little known. The current study drew on data from 2029 Chinese adults (M_age = 36.62 years, SD_age = 10.06, range = 18–71) who anonymously completed questionnaires about their negative attitudes towards the bereaved parents (i.e., stigma of losing an only child), perceptions of adversities faced by these parents, and prosocial tendencies (willingness to provide personal help and expectations for government support). In total, 44% of the participants held moderate to high levels of stigma of losing an only child. Participants with greater stigma reported fewer adversities faced by the bereaved parents and they were less likely to agree that the government should provide resources. Moreover, perceptions of adversities mediated the negative association between public stigma and expectations for governmental support. This study advances our understanding of the unwelcoming environment in which the vulnerable population of parents who have lost their only child live by innovatively revealing perspectives from the public.

Keywords

parents losing an only child shiduer willingness to help public stigma

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Cao

Yang

Wang

(2020). The impact on mental health of losing an only child and the influence of social support and resilience. Omega-Journal of Death and Dying, 80(4), 666–684. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222818755284

Cheng

S. T.

Chan

A. C. M.

(2006). Filial piety and psychological well-being in well older Chinese. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 61(5), P262–P269. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/61.5.P262

Dyregrov

(2003). Micro-sociological analysis of social support following traumatic bereavement: Unhelpful and avoidant responses from the community. Omega-Journal of Death and Dying, 48(1), 23–44. https://doi.org/10.2190/T3NM-VFBK-68R0-UJ60

Eli

Liang

Chen

Huang

Liu

(2021). Symptom structure of posttraumatic stress disorder after parental bereavement – a network analysis of Chinese parents who have lost their only child. Journal of Affective Disorders, 295, 673–680. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.123

Feng

(2018). Childlessness and vulnerability of older people in China. Age and Ageing, 47(2), 275–281. https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afx137

Ferguson

M. J.

Bargh

J. A.

(2004). How social perception can automatically influence behavior. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 8(1), 33–39. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2003.11.004

Fincham

F. D.

(2003). Marital conflict: Correlates, structure, and context. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 12(1), 23–27. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8721.01215

Frost

D. M.

(2011). Social stigma and its consequences for the socially stigmatized. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 5(11), 824–839. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1751-9004.2011.00394.x

Goffman

(1963). Stigma: Notes on the management of spoiled identity. Prentice Hall.

10.

Hayes

A. F.

(2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach. Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1111/jedm.12050

11.

Herek

G. M.

(2009). Sexual prejudice. In Nelson

T. D.

(Ed.), Handbook of prejudice, stereotyping, and discrimination (pp. 441–467). Psychology Press.

12.

Precht

D. H.

Mortensen

P. B.

Olsen

(2003). Mortality in parents after death of a child in Denmark: A nationwide follow-up study. The Lancet, 361(9355), 363–367. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(03)12387-2

13.

Lima-Nunes

Pereira

C. R.

Correia

(2013). Restricting the scope of justice to justify discrimination: The role played by justice perceptions in discrimination against immigrants. European Journal of Social Psychology, 43(7), 627–636. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.1981

14.

Lin

Zhou

(2021). Estimation on Chinese families who lost their only child and the fiscal sustainability of the social assistance system. Journal of Chinese Governance, 8(3), 418–432. https://doi.org/10.1080/23812346.2021.1883289

15.

Link

B. G.

Phelan

J. C.

(2001). Conceptualizing stigma. Annual Review of Sociology, 27(1), 363–385. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.soc.27.1.363

16.

Liu

Wang

(2024). Restudy of the total number and changing trend of women losing their only child in China. Population & Economics, 2, 29–43. https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1000-4149.2024.00.008

17.

Zhao

Long

Diao

Liu

Feng

Wang

(2023). The relationship between culture-related grief beliefs, prolonged grief disorder and suicide ideation among Shidu parents in rural China. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 30(1), 54–63. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2768

18.

Markus

Kitayama

(1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.98.2.224

19.

National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China . (2010). National health statistics yearbook of 2010. Peking Union Medical College Press.

20.

Pettigrew

T. F.

Tropp

L. R.

(2006). A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90(5), 751–783. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.751

21.

Settles

B. H.

Sheng

Zang

Zhao

(2013). The one-child policy and its impact on Chinese families. In Kwok-bun

(Ed.), International handbook of Chinese families. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0266-4_38

22.

Shi

Wen

Zhou

Wang

Shi

Liu

Wang

Stelzer

(2019). Culture-related grief beliefs of Chinese Shidu parents: Development and psychometric properties of a new scale. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 10(1), Article 1626075. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008198.2019.1626075

23.

Shonhe

Jain

(2017). Information dissemination in the 21st Century: The use of mobile technologies. In Mnjama

Jain

(Eds.), Information and knowledge for competitiveness (pp. 425–447). Department of Library and Information Studies-University of Botswana.

24.

Song

(2014). Losing an only child: The one-child policy and elderly care in China. Reproductive Health Matters, 22(43), 113–124. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0968-8080(14)43755-8

25.

Tarrant

Dazeley

Cottom

(2009). Social categorization and empathy for outgroup members. British Journal of Social Psychology, 48(Pt 3), 427–446. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466608X373589

26.

Umberson

Donnelly

Farina

Garcia

M. A.

(2020). Death of a child prior to midlife, dementia risk, and racial disparities. Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 75(9), 1983–1995. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbz154

27.

Vélez-Agosto

N. M.

Soto-Crespo

J. G.

Vizcarrondo-Oppenheimer

Vega-Molina

García Coll

(2017). Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological theory revision: Moving culture from the macro into the micro. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(5), 900–910. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617704397

28.

Wang

(2021). “It is not simply the loss of a child”: The challenges facing parents who have lost their only child in post-reproductive age in China. Death Studies, 45(3), 209–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2019.1626941

29.

Wang

Ren

Wang

(2019). The relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation among shidu parents: The role of stigma and social support. BMC Psychiatry, 19(1), 352. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-019-2353-7

30.

Wang

Zhang

Wang

Jing

Zhou

Wang

Zhou

(2021). Prevalence and risk factors of posttraumatic stress disorder among Chinese shidu parents: A systemic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Affective Disorders, 282, 1180–1186. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2021.01.017

31.

Yao

Chan

(2018). Childbearing importance: A qualitative study of women with infertility in China. Research in Nursing & Health, 41(1), 69–77. https://doi.org/10.1002/nur.21846

32.

Yin

Zhang

Shang

Sun

Zhang

Zhou

Song

Liu

(2020). Risk factors for PTSD of shidu parents who lost the only child in a rapid aging process: A cross-sectional study. BMC Psychiatry, 20(1), 37. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-020-2446-3

33.

Zhao

Ren

Wang

Long

Wang

(2022). Predictors of prolonged grief disorder in Chinese elderly shidu parents: The role of perceived stigma and perceived stress. Asia-Pacific Psychiatry, 14(2), Article e12489. https://doi.org/10.1111/appy.12489

34.

Zheng

Lawson

T. R.

(2015). Identity reconstruction as shiduers: Narratives from Chinese older adults who lost their only child. International Journal of Social Welfare, 24(4), 399–406. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.12139

35.

Zheng

Lawson

T. R.

Anderson Head

(2017). “Our only child has died”—a study of bereaved older Chinese parents. Omega-Journal of Death and Dying, 74(4), 410–425. https://doi.org/10.1177/0030222815612285

36.

Zhou

Wang

(2023). Peer support experiences among Chinese parents who lost their only child: A qualitative study. Death Studies, 47(6), 738–750. https://doi.org/10.1080/07481187.2022.2117250

Supplementary Material

Please find the following supplemental material available below.

For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.

For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.

0.00 MB

0.21 MB

Stigma of Losing an Only Child: Implications for Public Perceptions of Bereavement Adversities and Prosocial Tendencies in China

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References

Supplementary Material