Zhan,Montgomery GENDER AND ELDER CARE IN CHINA 215 recipient had to be in need of assistance with one or more activities of daily living (ADL)or instrumental activities of daily living(IADL).Although some secondary caregivers were interviewed,only data for primary caregivers are included in this analysis. Data Collection Process Structured interviews with the 110 caregivers were conducted in Chinese by the senior author during the fall of 1997 and 1998.Most of the interviews were con- ducted in the caregiver's home,although a few were conducted in the caregiver's workplace during lunch break or in an agreed-on public meeting place.Each partic- ipant was given a questionnaire written in Chinese and asked to either complete the questionnaire or allow the investigator to read the questions and complete the form for the participant.Only 18 caregivers chose to complete the form themselves. Information collected through the interview process included basic demographic data,the health and functional status of the elder and the caregiver,caregivers'atti- tudes and beliefs about caregiving responsibilities,and the type and extent of assis- tance that the caregiver was providing to the parent or parent-in-law. Sample Description Caregiver characteristics.The demographic characteristics for both the elders and the caregivers included in the sample are shown in Table 1.The majority(68 percent)of the caregivers in the sample were women.The caregivers ranged in age from 27 to 60.with the vast majority(86 percent)being between the ages of 30 and 49.All but seven of the caregivers were married.Fifty-six of the caregivers were daughters assisting parents,19 were daughters-in-law assisting parents-in-law,33 were sons assisting their parents,and 2 sons-in-law were primary caregivers for their fathers-in-law. Coresidence with parents or parents-in-law in this sample did not occur as fre- quently as in other studies,which have reported rates greater than 80 percent (Lavely and Ren 1992).Nearly half of the caregivers(46 percent)did not live with their care recipients.About a third (31 percent)of the caregivers lived with parents, while 23 percent lived with parents-in-law.One of the major reasons for this differ- ence in patterns of coresidence was that caregivers in this sample resided in urban interior China where elders were more likely to own apartments and live by them- selves than is the case among rural elders. The large majority (86 percent)of the caregivers had at least a middle school education,and their mean income was between 200 to 300 yuan(or $25 to $35)per month.Nearly half(43.6 percent)of the interviewees reported that they were not working full-time.Most of these caregivers were laid off;however,a few reported going to their former workplace to register their presence,but they rarely obtained work.While most caregivers(66.4 percent)received no reimbursement for medical Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY CKM on January 27.2015recipient had to be in need of assistance with one or more activities of daily living (ADL) or instrumental activities of daily living (IADL). Although some secondary caregivers were interviewed, only data for primary caregivers are included in this analysis. Data Collection Process Structured interviews with the 110 caregivers were conducted in Chinese by the senior author during the fall of 1997 and 1998. Most of the interviews were con￾ducted in the caregiver’s home, although a few were conducted in the caregiver’s workplace during lunch break or in an agreed-on public meeting place. Each partic￾ipant was given a questionnaire written in Chinese and asked to either complete the questionnaire or allow the investigator to read the questions and complete the form for the participant. Only 18 caregivers chose to complete the form themselves. Information collected through the interview process included basic demographic data, the health and functional status of the elder and the caregiver, caregivers’atti￾tudes and beliefs about caregiving responsibilities, and the type and extent of assis￾tance that the caregiver was providing to the parent or parent-in-law. Sample Description Caregiver characteristics. The demographic characteristics for both the elders and the caregivers included in the sample are shown in Table 1. The majority (68 percent) of the caregivers in the sample were women. The caregivers ranged in age from 27 to 60, with the vast majority (86 percent) being between the ages of 30 and 49. All but seven of the caregivers were married. Fifty-six of the caregivers were daughters assisting parents, 19 were daughters-in-law assisting parents-in-law, 33 were sons assisting their parents, and 2 sons-in-law were primary caregivers for their fathers-in-law. Coresidence with parents or parents-in-law in this sample did not occur as fre￾quently as in other studies, which have reported rates greater than 80 percent (Lavely and Ren 1992). Nearly half of the caregivers (46 percent) did not live with their care recipients. About a third (31 percent) of the caregivers lived with parents, while 23 percent lived with parents-in-law. One of the major reasons for this differ￾ence in patterns of coresidence was that caregivers in this sample resided in urban interior China where elders were more likely to own apartments and live by them￾selves than is the case among rural elders. The large majority (86 percent) of the caregivers had at least a middle school education, and their mean income was between 200 to 300 yuan (or $25 to $35) per month. Nearly half (43.6 percent) of the interviewees reported that they were not working full-time. Most of these caregivers were laid off; however, a few reported going to their former workplace to register their presence, but they rarely obtained work. While most caregivers (66.4 percent) received no reimbursement for medical Zhan, Montgomery / GENDER AND ELDER CARE IN CHINA 215 Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on January 27, 2015