Zhan,Montgomery /GENDER AND ELDER CARE IN CHINA 211 parents.To the extent that xiao is the basis for traditional patterns of parent care,one can argue that the recently observed increase of daughters'involvement in physical and financial care for parents might well reflect significant changes in the cultural value of xiao. Although the concept of filial piety has been widely cited as an important factor affecting elder care (Chen and Adamchak 1999:Gallois et al.1997),minimal empirical evidence of this link between parent care practices and beliefs about filial piety exists.Indeed,the majority of past research efforts primarily have been restricted to describing elder care patterns in China with little attention given to identifying the factors influencing them(Guo and Zhang 1996;Ikels 1985,1993; Xu 1995.1996).Moreover,minimal attention has been given to the conceptualiza- tion or measurement of xiao.Most often,xiao has been treated as a single unified cultural value with no identification of cultural components.Yet the concept of fil- ial piety appears to encompass both specific norms pertaining to care practices and a more generalized perception of social pressure to act in accord with these norms, as reported in Korea(Choi 1993).In this article,we address both of these limita- tions found in previous studies by directly assessing the relationship between mea- sures of two dimensions of xiao and parent care practices. Structural Constraints and Gendered Care Recent economic reforms may provide an alternative explanation for the chang- ing patterns of parent care observed in China.These reforms have led to widespread changes in the structure of families and their economic resources,which,in turn, may have served as pragmatic imperatives affecting care practices,if not overshad- owing the influence on care practices of the age-old norm of filial piety. Family structure and future changes.Family size has been one of the major issues of inquiry in the study of elder care in China.Whether the issue is one of direct care or financial assistance,family size is a factor that would be expected to influence care patterns.Some researchers have found that a greater number of fam- ily members,particularly adult children,usually means more financial and physical assistance for parents(Guo and Zhang 1996).Others have noted that having more children has not always meant more overall financial support because each child in a large family will simply contribute a smaller amount(Gui and Ni 1995;Xia and Ma 1995).Lee and Xiao (1998)reported that the level of parental need,rather than family size.was the most important factor determining the level of children's finan- cial support.By examining the influence of family size in the context of the func- tional needs ofelders,economic resources,and the cultural values of adult children, we hope to provide greater insight into the influence of family size on current pat- terns of parent care in China. An equally important contribution of this article is the insight that we can pro- vide about likely changes of care patterns in the future.To the extent that current patterns of care tasks are influenced by the presence of siblings,we can anticipate Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY CKM on January 27.2015parents. To the extent that xiao is the basis for traditional patterns of parent care, one can argue that the recently observed increase of daughters’involvement in physical and financial care for parents might well reflect significant changes in the cultural value of xiao. Although the concept of filial piety has been widely cited as an important factor affecting elder care (Chen and Adamchak 1999; Gallois et al. 1997), minimal empirical evidence of this link between parent care practices and beliefs about filial piety exists. Indeed, the majority of past research efforts primarily have been restricted to describing elder care patterns in China with little attention given to identifying the factors influencing them (Guo and Zhang 1996; Ikels 1985, 1993; Xu 1995, 1996). Moreover, minimal attention has been given to the conceptualiza￾tion or measurement of xiao. Most often, xiao has been treated as a single unified cultural value with no identification of cultural components. Yet the concept of fil￾ial piety appears to encompass both specific norms pertaining to care practices and a more generalized perception of social pressure to act in accord with these norms, as reported in Korea (Choi 1993). In this article, we address both of these limita￾tions found in previous studies by directly assessing the relationship between mea￾sures of two dimensions of xiao and parent care practices. Structural Constraints and Gendered Care Recent economic reforms may provide an alternative explanation for the chang￾ing patterns of parent care observed in China. These reforms have led to widespread changes in the structure of families and their economic resources, which, in turn, may have served as pragmatic imperatives affecting care practices, if not overshad￾owing the influence on care practices of the age-old norm of filial piety. Family structure and future changes. Family size has been one of the major issues of inquiry in the study of elder care in China. Whether the issue is one of direct care or financial assistance, family size is a factor that would be expected to influence care patterns. Some researchers have found that a greater number of fam￾ily members, particularly adult children, usually means more financial and physical assistance for parents (Guo and Zhang 1996). Others have noted that having more children has not always meant more overall financial support because each child in a large family will simply contribute a smaller amount (Gui and Ni 1995; Xia and Ma 1995). Lee and Xiao (1998) reported that the level of parental need, rather than family size, was the most important factor determining the level of children’s finan￾cial support. By examining the influence of family size in the context of the func￾tional needs of elders, economic resources, and the cultural values of adult children, we hope to provide greater insight into the influence of family size on current pat￾terns of parent care in China. An equally important contribution of this article is the insight that we can pro￾vide about likely changes of care patterns in the future. To the extent that current patterns of care tasks are influenced by the presence of siblings, we can anticipate Zhan, Montgomery / GENDER AND ELDER CARE IN CHINA 211 Downloaded from gas.sagepub.com at UCSF LIBRARY & CKM on January 27, 2015