Filial Piety, Intimacy, and Inter-Generational Contract: Understanding the Family Support to Rural Empty-Nest Older Parents in China

With massive internal migration and changing family ethics, the increasing empty-nest older parents in rural China faced challenges in receiving family care. While state policies emphasize filial responsibilities in supporting empty-nest older parents, it’s crucial to understand how such family support can be developed. This study explored how filial piety, intimacy, and inter-generational contract might achieve family support to rural empty-nest parents, as well as the interactions between these approaches. Utilizing a sample of 852 rural empty-nest older parents from the 2018 Chinese General Social Survey, we found that inter-generational contract and family intimacy are efficient in achieving family support for these older parents, with filial piety being comparatively less efficient. Moreover, these approaches mutually reinforce each other rather than being contradictory. These findings have policy implications, highlighting the significance of governmental support in facilitating inter-generational exchange and nurturing family intimacy to promote family support within empty-nest families.