Sociodemographic characteristics of the elderly in Shandong, China (n=3923)
| Characteristics | Total | Empty-nest single | Empty-nest couple | Non-empty nester | χ2/F | P values |
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |||
| N | 3923 (100.0) | 391 (10.0) | 1934 (49.3) | 1598 (40.7) | ||
| Gender | 43.525 | <0.001 | ||||
| Male | 1821 (46.4) | 132 (33.8) | 983 (50.8) | 706 (44.2) | ||
| Female | 2102 (53.6) | 259 (66.2) | 951 (49.2) | 892 (55.8) | ||
| Age | 145.042 | <0.001 | ||||
| 60− | 2568 (65.5) | 162 (41.4) | 1257 (65.0) | 1149 (71.9) | ||
| 70− | 1122 (28.6) | 183 (46.8) | 588 (30.4) | 351 (22.0) | ||
| 80− | 233 (5.9) | 46 (11.8) | 89 (4.6) | 98 (6.1) | ||
| Education | 84.222 | <0.001 | ||||
| Illiteracy or semiliterate | 1744 (44.5) | 240 (61.4) | 744 (38.5) | 760 (47.6) | ||
| Primary school | 1171 (29.8) | 96 (24.6) | 633 (32.7) | 442 (27.7) | ||
| Junior school or above | 1008 (25.7) | 55 (14.1) | 557 (28.8) | 396 (24.8) | ||
| Past occupation | 34.103 | <0.001 | ||||
| Farmer | 2519 (64.2) | 278 (71.1) | 1156 (59.8) | 1085 (67.9) | ||
| Others | 1404 (35.8) | 113 (28.9) | 778 (40.2) | 513 (32.1) | ||
| Marital Status | 2024.826 | <0.001 | ||||
| Single* | 820 (20.9) | 391 (100.0) | 0 (0.0) | 429 (26.8) | ||
| Couple | 3103 (79.1) | 0 (0.0) | 1934 (100.0) | 1169 (73.2) | ||
| No of children | 42.968 | <0.001 | ||||
| 0–3 | 2643 (67.4) | 212 (54.2) | 1290 (66.7) | 1141 (71.4) | ||
| >3 | 1280 (32.6) | 179 (45.8) | 644 (33.3) | 457 (28.6) | ||
| Relationship with children† | 35.101 | <0.001 | ||||
| Good or normal | 3581 (92.9) | 298 (85.6) | 1782 (92.7) | 1501 (94.6) | ||
| Poor | 275 (7.1) | 50 (14.4) | 140 (7.3) | 85 (5.4) | ||
| Residence | 150.403 | <0.001 | ||||
| Urban | 1768 (45.1) | 155 (39.6) | 912 (47.2) | 701 (43.9) | ||
| Rural | 2155 (54.9) | 236 (60.4) | 1022 (52.8) | 897 (56.1) | ||
| Self-reported health status | 28.629 | <0.001 | ||||
| Good | 2044 (52.1) | 173 (44.2) | 962 (49.7) | 909 (56.9) | ||
| Normal or poor | 1879 (47.9) | 218 (55.8) | 972 (50.3) | 689 (43.1) | ||
| Psychological stress | 15.8±6.0 | 17.3±7.2 | 15.6±5.7 | 15.6±5.9 | 1.743 | 0.004 |
| ADL | 75.403 | <0.001 | ||||
| I | 2853 (72.7) | 217 (55.5) | 1403 (72.5) | 1233 (77.2) | ||
| II | 631 (16.1) | 98 (25.1) | 313 (16.2) | 220 (13.8) | ||
| III | 439 (11.2) | 76 (19.4) | 218 (11.3) | 145 (9.1) | ||
| NCD | 26.274 | <0.001 | ||||
| Yes | 2586 (65.9) | 296 (75.7) | 1293 (66.9) | 997 (62.4) | ||
| No | 1337 (34.1) | 95 (24.3) | 641 (33.1) | 601 (37.6) | ||
| Household income‡ | 371.563 | <0.001 | ||||
| Q1 | 996 (25.4) | 221 (56.5) | 537 (27.8) | 238 (14.9) | ||
| Q2 | 1001 (25.5) | 81 (20.7) | 551 (28.5) | 369 (23.1) | ||
| Q3 | 965 (24.6) | 69 (17.6) | 414 (21.4) | 482 (30.2) | ||
| Q4 | 961 (24.5) | 20 (5.1) | 432 (22.3) | 509 (31.9) | ||
| Per capita living space | 33.9±23.1 | 53.0±42.6 | 36.9±20.0 | 25.4±14.6 | 7.255 | <0.001 |
*Single includes those who were unmarried (1.7%), divorced (0.3%), widowed (18.6%) or separated (0.3%).
†Sixty-seven of the participants were childless elders and were regarded as missing data here.
‡Quartile 1 (Q1) is the poorest and Quartile 4 (Q4) is the richest.
ADL, activities of daily living; NCD, non-communicable disease.