Impact of the number of children and physical condition of the elderly on willingness of elderly support in rural areas in Bengbu

Objective With aging population, this paper aims to study the impact of the number of children and physical condition of the elderly on the willingness of elderly support in rural areas and provide scientific basis for making elderly-support policy. Methods A stratified random sampling method is used to investigate the rural elderly (≥ 60) with questionnaires in Lilou Township, Bengbu City in 2016. A total of 249 valid questionnaires were collected and 244 were included in the study. To study impact of the number of children and physical condition of the elderly on willingness of elderly support, one-way χ² analysis(or Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test) is adopted for single factor analysis while logistic regression analysis is adopted for multiple factors analysis. Results The elderly having 4 children are accounting for the majority 70 (28.7%) and their health condition is in middle level. The willing to be supported by the family is the highest, which is 178 (73.0%) 95% CI:67.2% -78.3%. According to single factor analysis the number of children (χ²=2.803, P=0.246) and physical condition (self-evaluation:χ²=5.385, activities of daily living (ADL):χ²=2.987, life satisfaction:χ²=2.111, with P >0.05) had no statistically significant impact on the willingness of elderly support. According to multiple factors logistic regression analysis, the number of children's impact on the willingness of elderly support isn't statistically significant (P>0.05). Among the independent variables of physical condition, only when elderly evaluate themselves healthy (P<0.05) is statistically significant and OR=8.802, 95% CI:1.030-75.210. Conclusions The number of children has no impact on the willingness of elderly support. Researches, henceforth, should be transferred from the number of children into social economic status (e.g, economic condition of children, marital status, and so on). Support from family remains favorable to the elderly. The elderly with poor health self-evaluation tends to be supported by family. Hence, improving home care can offer them more satisfied lives.