The Impact of Intergenerational Support on Mental Health among Young Rural Women

Abstract

Background: Intergenerational support is an essential source of psychological support for young rural women that impacts women's mental health. Methods: In 2017, data were collected from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), and an ordered logit regression model was used to analyze the impact of intergenerational economic support, intergenerational care support, and intergenerational emotional support on the mental health of young rural women. Results: The findings of the present research indicated that intergenerational economic support and intergenerational emotional support had positive effects on the mental health of young rural women. The mental health of young rural women who frequently received economic and emotional support from their parents was much better than that of young rural women who did not. However, intergenerational care support did not correlate with young rural women’s mental health. Furthermore, the logic behind the role of intergenerational economic support was the compensatory mechanism. Due to its low cost and high utility, intergenerational emotional support was proven to have more significant positive impacts than intergenerational economic support. The results of the heterogeneity analysis illustrated that intergenerational economic support and emotional support mainly promoted the mental health of young rural women from middle-income families. Conclusions: This study provides support for the following arguments: improving rural parents' capacity to provide intergenerational support, lowering the cost of intergenerational support, and facilitating the matching of intergenerational support needs and supply are vital.