214 GENDER SOCIETY /April 2003 on the relative influences of the cultural value of xiao,family structure,and eco- nomic resources on gendered patterns of parent care. Guiding Model for Analysis For this analysis,family size and economic resources are viewed as structural factors that are influenced by the societal changes that have been introduced in China as part of globalization,economic reform,and the one-child policy.Conse- quently,our analyses serve as an initial assessment of the likely effect of these struc- tural changes on women's role as caregivers for elders in interior China in the con- text of current cultural values To accurately assess the impact of the structural factors on care patterns,we first analyze the gendered nature of care task performance and of cultural values.Next, we include the gender of the caregiver and the care recipient in our regression mod- els along with control variables for the level of physical need of the elder and the marital status of the care recipient.In addition,we have included two measures of the cultural value of xiao in the models.In this way,we are able to examine the influence of structural factors after taking into account the influence of elder need and cultural beliefs. The data for this study were obtained through structured interviews in interior China with 110 urban-dwelling familial caregivers who were assisting an elderly parent or parent-in-law.A snowball method was used to identify the caregivers in Yiyang City,Hunan Province,and Baoding City,Hebei Province.Both Yiyang and Baoding are medium-sized cities located in the interior of China.They were selected because they are smaller cities,which are not often studied but are repre- sentative of the places where the majority of the interior urban population reside and work.It is in cities like these that most Chinese who have experienced privatiza- tion and globalization of their economy still live in a relatively traditional style and where cultural norms and practices ofelder care are more likely to remain relatively stable.Hence,our sample provides an excellent opportunity to assess the dual impacts of economic reform and traditional cultural values. Within the context of our available resources,it was not possible to obtain a rep- resentative sample of caregivers.However,an effort was made to select a sample that was sufficiently diverse in terms of the key independent variables including gender,employment status,and health care benefits.To maximize the variation of class status within the sample,the snowball process was initiated in four district cat- egories:factory,school,government,and residential.As most families still lived in apartments assigned by work units,though purchased by employees in the mid- 1990s,this method facilitated the inclusion of individuals with very diverse back- grounds.There was little variation in ethnicity because the vast majority of urban dwellers in these two cities are Han Chinese,as is true for most Chinese cities.To be included in the study,caregivers had to be providing financial,physical,or emo- tional assistance to parents or parents-in-law on a regular basis,and the care Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY CKM on January 27.2015on the relative influences of the cultural value of xiao, family structure, and eco￾nomic resources on gendered patterns of parent care. Guiding Model for Analysis For this analysis, family size and economic resources are viewed as structural factors that are influenced by the societal changes that have been introduced in China as part of globalization, economic reform, and the one-child policy. Conse￾quently, our analyses serve as an initial assessment of the likely effect of these struc￾tural changes on women’s role as caregivers for elders in interior China in the con￾text of current cultural values. To accurately assess the impact of the structural factors on care patterns, we first analyze the gendered nature of care task performance and of cultural values. Next, we include the gender of the caregiver and the care recipient in our regression mod￾els along with control variables for the level of physical need of the elder and the marital status of the care recipient. In addition, we have included two measures of the cultural value of xiao in the models. In this way, we are able to examine the influence of structural factors after taking into account the influence of elder need and cultural beliefs. The data for this study were obtained through structured interviews in interior China with 110 urban-dwelling familial caregivers who were assisting an elderly parent or parent-in-law. A snowball method was used to identify the caregivers in Yiyang City, Hunan Province, and Baoding City, Hebei Province. Both Yiyang and Baoding are medium-sized cities located in the interior of China. They were selected because they are smaller cities, which are not often studied but are repre￾sentative of the places where the majority of the interior urban population reside and work. It is in cities like these that most Chinese who have experienced privatiza￾tion and globalization of their economy still live in a relatively traditional style and where cultural norms and practices of elder care are more likely to remain relatively stable. Hence, our sample provides an excellent opportunity to assess the dual impacts of economic reform and traditional cultural values. Within the context of our available resources, it was not possible to obtain a rep￾resentative sample of caregivers. However, an effort was made to select a sample that was sufficiently diverse in terms of the key independent variables including gender, employment status, and health care benefits. To maximize the variation of class status within the sample, the snowball process was initiated in four district cat￾egories: factory, school, government, and residential. As most families still lived in apartments assigned by work units, though purchased by employees in the mid- 1990s, this method facilitated the inclusion of individuals with very diverse back￾grounds. There was little variation in ethnicity because the vast majority of urban dwellers in these two cities are Han Chinese, as is true for most Chinese cities. To be included in the study, caregivers had to be providing financial, physical, or emo￾tional assistance to parents or parents-in-law on a regular basis, and the care 214 GENDER & SOCIETY / April 2003 Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on January 27, 2015