Inter-generational Imbalance Theory: An Explanation To The Family Support For The Elderly Of Countryside In Jianghan Plain

This study is an empirical study about the current family support for the elderly of countryside in Jianghan Plain. It attempts to reveal the problems in the family support for the elderly and understand the causes of such problems.As an old-age model whose endowment gets from the family members, especially the offspring, family support for the elderly must be understood from the inter-generational relations. Feedback Mode presents a balance, reciprocal and harmony scene in intergeneration. Inter-generational relations contains the ultimate value of family continuity to the Chinese people, the ethical norms of filial piety, supra economic feedback action in Inter-generation. On the basis of it, it constructs the three-in-one model which is consisted of the value, ethic and action. The cause of the current old-age problems in rural areas is not the result of the lack of resources, but the result of the disorder of value and the decline of filial piety.On the basis of study of rural society and family changes in modern times, and a series of field research, concerning the increasingly serious problem of family support for the elderly under the tendency of population aging and the dramatically social transformation, This paper proposes the inter-generational imbalance theory which is composed of the proposition of the disorder of value, the proposition of the decline of filial piety and the proposition of the rationality of action. The hypotheses of the living condition of the elderly based on the proposed theory are well supported by a sampling survey data collected in countryside in Jianghan Plain.The study found that, the living condition of the elderly in rural areas in Jianghan Plain is worrying, the Inter-generational feedback model of family support for the elderly appeared fracture and imbalance, and the elderly got the limited support from the descendants. The results of multiple regression analysis showed that, the descendants' change in the level of value, ethical and the logic of action have affected the living condition of the elderly. The results show that, the core value of the family support for the elderly has been loosened, and the cultural ideal of family continuity has been very difficult for providing the ultimate support to the family support for the elderly. The set of filial piety in favor of the running of the family support for the elderly has lost its effectiveness due, and the younger generation applies it by a selfish way. The younger generation become more and more rational in the issue of providing for the elderly, and always follows a logical of rational tool with a rational exchange to understand and practice the family support for the elderly. Family support for the elderly thus transits from a supra economic action to an equal exchange action as same as market economy. That is the root of the problem of the family support for the elderly in countryside.