Zhan,Montgomery /GENDER AND ELDER CARE IN CHINA 213 economic reforms of the 1980s,women in interior China have been more likely than men to experience the consequences of reduced job security and health care benefits due to the uneven development between coastal and interior areas and the increased sex discrimination in the job market(Parish and Busse 2000:Sun 1993: Xu 1992).This pattern is reflected in the census data of 1993 and 1997.Even though 75 percent of women ages 20 to 45 were reported to be working in the labor force during the first half of the 1990s,there was a 7 percent decline in women's labor force participation in 1995 compared to 1990;this decline tends to be "for both city and town women"(Parish and Busse 2000). As a group,the elderly also have been more negatively affected by economic and health care reforms in urban China than other segments of the population.As pen- sions and health benefits have become unreliable or worthless,elders'needs for financial and physical assistance have increased.As a consequence.many of the elderly have been forced to rely on children.This is especially true for older women who are less likely than their male counterparts to have pensions(Beijing Geronto- logical Soceity 1996:Wang.Bai.and Jia.1998). In the past,economic insecurity among Chinese elders,particularly women,has been the focus of several studies(Goldstein and Ku 1993;Sun 1993;Xiong 1998; Xu 1992);however,the impact of their financial situation on patterns of family care under the new market economy has received minimal attention.Since the economic reforms in China have produced societal and familial changes that have affected the status and independence of elders,the question arises as to how these changes will be reflected in patterns of elder care,which have long been dominated by the cul- tural norm of xiao.Specifically,our interest is in the gendered nature of parent care and the implications of such care patterns for Chinese women.If elder care is strongly influenced by the constraints of family and economic structures,then the prevailing cultural belief in filial piety is not likely to guarantee the care of elders in the future.Moreover,if the impact of the structural constraints resulting from glob- alization and the one-child family policy is disproportionately experienced by women,then it is likely that the costs of long-term care in China,as in the United States and much of Europe,will be borne disproportionately by women(Estes 2001;Montgomery 1999).Our findings are intended not only to augment the cur- rent understanding of the dual influences of cultural values and structural con- straints (i.e.,economic and family resources)in patterns of elder care in China but also to provide insights into the gendered nature of elder care and its costs now and in the future. RESEARCH METHOD The central research question addressed by this study is,To what extent do cul- tural values and structural constraints influence parent care practices among this sample of urban-dwelling Chinese adult children?Specifically,the analyses focus Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY CKM on January 27.2015economic reforms of the 1980s, women in interior China have been more likely than men to experience the consequences of reduced job security and health care benefits due to the uneven development between coastal and interior areas and the increased sex discrimination in the job market (Parish and Busse 2000; Sun 1993; Xu 1992). This pattern is reflected in the census data of 1993 and 1997. Even though 75 percent of women ages 20 to 45 were reported to be working in the labor force during the first half of the 1990s, there was a 7 percent decline in women’s labor force participation in 1995 compared to 1990; this decline tends to be “for both city and town women” (Parish and Busse 2000). As a group, the elderly also have been more negatively affected by economic and health care reforms in urban China than other segments of the population. As pen￾sions and health benefits have become unreliable or worthless, elders’ needs for financial and physical assistance have increased. As a consequence, many of the elderly have been forced to rely on children. This is especially true for older women who are less likely than their male counterparts to have pensions (Beijing Geronto￾logical Soceity 1996; Wang, Bai, and Jia, 1998). In the past, economic insecurity among Chinese elders, particularly women, has been the focus of several studies (Goldstein and Ku 1993; Sun 1993; Xiong 1998; Xu 1992); however, the impact of their financial situation on patterns of family care under the new market economy has received minimal attention. Since the economic reforms in China have produced societal and familial changes that have affected the status and independence of elders, the question arises as to how these changes will be reflected in patterns of elder care, which have long been dominated by the cul￾tural norm of xiao. Specifically, our interest is in the gendered nature of parent care and the implications of such care patterns for Chinese women. If elder care is strongly influenced by the constraints of family and economic structures, then the prevailing cultural belief in filial piety is not likely to guarantee the care of elders in the future. Moreover, if the impact of the structural constraints resulting from glob￾alization and the one-child family policy is disproportionately experienced by women, then it is likely that the costs of long-term care in China, as in the United States and much of Europe, will be borne disproportionately by women (Estes 2001; Montgomery 1999). Our findings are intended not only to augment the cur￾rent understanding of the dual influences of cultural values and structural con￾straints (i.e., economic and family resources) in patterns of elder care in China but also to provide insights into the gendered nature of elder care and its costs now and in the future. RESEARCH METHOD The central research question addressed by this study is, To what extent do cul￾tural values and structural constraints influence parent care practices among this sample of urban-dwelling Chinese adult children? Specifically, the analyses focus Zhan, Montgomery / GENDER AND ELDER CARE IN CHINA 213 Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on January 27, 2015