Living arrangements and family support for older persons have become an increasingly important policy concern in developing and rapidly aging Asia. Formulating a sound elderly care policy for the region will benefit from empirically examining how living arrangements, particularly coresidence, and intergenerational exchanges of financial, instrumental, and emotional support are associated with old-age psychological health. This study analyzes data from nationally representative aging surveys in Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand for 2011-2012 to offer a comparative perspective from Southeast Asia where various kinship systems coexist. Results suggest that coresidence with a child of culturally preferred gender significantly improves the emotional health of Vietnamese and Thai elders but with different implications. In Vietnam, living with a married son is more beneficial to parents' psychological wellbeing than living with other children. In Thailand, coresidence regardless of the child's gender improves old-age psychological wellbeing but living with a daughter brings greater benefits than living only with son. Evidence points to the importance of understanding the dominant kinship system that may shape normative filial expectations and gender role expectations within the family. In Vietnam and Thailand, the positive association holds even after intergenerational support is controlled, suggesting that the value of culturally preferred coresidence goes beyond practical functions. In Myanmar, there are almost no significant differences in psychological wellbeing among elderly across various living arrangements, except between coresidence and network living arrangements. For all settings, we do not find evidence in support of network family arrangements as a complete substitute for coresidence in terms of promoting old-age psychological wellbeing after filial support is controlled. Our study highlights important cultural nuances for theorizing the nature of the relationship between living arrangements and old-age psychological health, and presents the important need for more rigorous investigation of the causal links between these two phenomena in future research.

The conventional model of a rising divorce rate during the process of modernization is a staple element of the sociological theory of the family. This generalization is challenged, however, by traditional high-divorce societies, primarily in Islamic Southeast Asia, which have experienced a "decline" in divorce with modernization. In this study, based on micro-level survey data, the authors explore the social roots of marital disruption in Indonesia and Malaysia and in another Southeast Asian society, Thailand, which has not been identified as a high-divorce society. Comparable survey data from the 1970s (from the World Fertility Survey) allow for an in-depth analysis of traditional patterns of divorce before the rapid modernization of recent decades. Two major findings emerge from the multivariate analysis. First, there is a common pattern across all three societies of higher levels of divorce among "traditional" women-those who live in rural areas, marry at young ages, and have lower levels of education. Second, the authors find significant sociocultural (ethnic, regional, religious) differentials in divorce within each country that cannot be explained by demographic and socioeconomic composition. They present an interpretation of how moderately high levels of divorce were accommodated in traditional Southeast Asian societies. Copyright 2003 by The Population Council, Inc..

This study addresses the extent of change and regional differences in gender roles in the Vietnamese family based on innovative surveys in northern and southern Vietnam. The similarities and differences in political, economic, and social histories between northern and southern Vietnam provide a compelling setting to investigate the impact of socialist policies and the recent shift from a centrally planned to a market economy on gender stratification in the domestic spheres. We assess determinants of the gender division of household labor among three marriage cohorts that underwent early marital years during 1) the Vietnam War and mass mobilization, 2) nationwide socialist collectivization and economic stagnation, and 3) market reform. We find that Vietnamese wives still do the vast majority of housework. In this sense, government efforts to change gender roles apparently have had at most limited success. Vietnamese husbands in the most recent marriage cohort, however, are more involved in household budget management and childcare than those in the two earlier cohorts. Thus, contrary to claims of some observers, evidence does not suggest that gender equality in the Vietnamese household has been deteriorating after the market reform.

Vietnam's sustained investment in primary healthcare since the onset of socialism has lowered infant and childhood mortality rates and improved life expectancy, exceeding progress achieved in other poor countries with comparable levels of income per capita. The recent introduction of user fees for primary healthcare services has generated concern that economic policies may have adversely affected health-seeking behavior and health outcomes of the poor, particularly among impoverished families who are members of socially marginalized minority groups. This paper examines this debate by analyzing parental recall of illness and care-seeking for sick children under the age of 5 years recorded by the 2001-2002 Vietnam National Health Survey. We estimate statistical models of the determinants of parental recall of incidence and response to illness among their children. Ethnic minority parents less frequently reported their children to have been sick than Kinh and Chinese parents. When they recognize an illness episode, minority parents are less likely to seek care -- whether professional consultation or self-prescribed care -- than non-minority parents. Ethnic differentials are evident in all geographic and income levels, although adverse effects of minority status are most pronounced among poor households in remote areas. Regression estimates of the effects of ethnicity and maternal education on health decisions are pronounced even when poverty effects are controlled, suggesting that social equity may have been under-emphasized in Vietnam's early health policy deliberations. Policies extending free healthcare to poor communes affect parental decisions to seek professional care or self-prescribed care among better-off parents without affecting parental decision making among the poor. Early health initiatives for the poor may therefore have failed to offset equity problems confronting impoverished ethnic minority families.

This spotlight provides an overview of the situation of older persons in Myanmar, an understudied country of over-50-million population. Myanmar is of particular interest to researchers and policy makers, given its overall level of poverty and modestly rapid population aging. Research on older persons, while increasing in recent years, remains sparse. Empirical evidence indicates that Myanmar older persons are in relatively poorer health compared to those in neighboring countries. Many live in abject poverty and depend on their families for material support. Coresidence is very common and facilitates reciprocal exchanges across generations. Looking ahead, Myanmar confronts important challenges including demographic shifts that reduce availability of family support for older persons and increasing burden from chronic illnesses. Currently, government measures are essentially absent, although a law on aging was drafted and is in the process to become legislation.