Confronting Challenges
A Tale of Three Countries: Changing Gender Ideology and Eldercare Responsibility in East Asia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Zi Yan
Elder caregiving has become one of the social issues of contemporary East Asian societies due to participation of women into the labor market, changing social values towards welfare provision, and the demographic and social repercussion of an ageing population. Using individual-level data of the 2012 CGSS, 2012 JGSS and 2012 KGSS, this paper will highlight the existence of conflicting gender ideology and shed light on how families think about eldercare responsibility in a context of changing gender and family norms and of shifting elder eldercare responsibility from the private to the public sphere in China, Japan, and South Korea. Based on theories of modernization, binary logistic analysis is conducted to investigate whether socio-demographic, family structure, and gender ideology affect people’s attitude towards eldercare responsibility. Tentative estimation results indicate that, the eldercare responsibility between China, Japan, and South Korea are divergent. Gender ideology plays a significant role in adult children’s attitudes towards eldercare responsibility, followed by level and change of income, age and education, effects of other factors being qualitatively in line with prior expectations. Modernization hasn’t fully changed the eldercare responsibility tradition in major East Asian societies. The co-existence of tradition and modern values is the impetus for the continuity of family support in East Asia.
Quality of Life Among The Elderly Residing in High-risk Earthquake Disaster Rural Areas in West Java, Indonesia
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Adi Fahrudin, Husmiati Yusuf
The purpose of the cross-sectional study is to explore the quality of life of older people living in a high-risk earthquake disaster area in Sukamanah Village, West Java Province, Indonesia from the perspectives of the elderly themselves. Purposive sampling technique was used to choose eighty-nine subjects in the high-risk disaster area. The research instrument used standardized instruments with some modifications from WHO-QL Indonesian version. The results of this study found that the mean QOL score was 70.1, SD= 14.1 with a median score of 69. The score ranged from 42 to 116. Most of the subjects had QOL score in the range of 61 to 70, followed by 25 percent in a score range of 51 to 60. Poor QOL was seen among those who were unemployed and those unable to work. Subjects with low education or illiteracy were found to have a low QOL compared to literate participants (p<0.001). The social support to the elderly increased significantly to improve the QOL of subjects (p<0.05). Results also showed that socio-demographic variables like age group, education, marital status, personal income, the frequency of an earthquake experience have the significant correlation with the QOL of elderly. Multiple regression analysis found that variables like age, sex, marital status, occupation, and earthquake experience were strongly associated with QOL. This study had implication for improving the quality of elderly care and suggestion the social work practice model for elderly in the high-risk earthquake disaster areas.
Framing in Placemaking When Envisioning a Sustainable Rural Community in the Time of Aging and Shrinking Societies in Japan
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shogo Kudo
Japan is experiencing an unprecedented demographic shift to an aging and shrinking society. In 2015, the proportion of people age sixty-five and over was 26.7% of the total population; this figure is predicted to increase to 39.9% by 2060. The population of Japan peaked at 127.8 million people in 2008, and a 31% decline is predicted by 2060. Under such demographic changes, continual outflows of young people and the aging of residents have caused various challenges in rural regions such as abandonment of assets, lack of access to basic services, and loss of traditional knowledge. Shift of regional society to an aging and shrinking population phase requires us to re-examine the meaning of sustainability. This study discusses the meaning of sustainability in the context of rural aging and shrinking communities. A multifunctionality framework is applied as theoretical framework to analyze the past pattern of rural system transition from a macro-scale perspective. A case study of Monogatari workshop was conducted in Akita, Japan. This case study provides a micro-scale perspective regarding how a group of local youths collectively envision the future of their community. The findings suggest that aging and shrinking population has emerged as prominent driver of rural system transition that includes possible marginalizing pathway. Rural areas of Japan are the most typical areas where such transition is taking place. The study empirically argues that the intergenerational interactions and interactive process of placemaking nurture the sense of ownership about local challenges and possible responses to them among the participants.
