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Family structure and well-being at older ages in Japan

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Abstract

The family structure of older Japanese is projected to change dramatically as a result of very low fertility, increasing levels of non-marriage, childlessness, and divorce, and declining intergenerational co-residence. To provide an empirical basis for speculation about the implications of projected increases in single-person and couple-only households, we use two sources of data to describe relationships between family structure and the physical and emotional well-being of Japanese men and women aged 60 and above. We find that marriage is positively associated with self-rated health and emotional well-being among older men but not women. In contrast to expectations, however, we find only limited evidence that the presence of children contributes to well-being. Taken as a whole, our results suggest that declines in marriage may have negative implications for the well-being of older Japanese men while the implications of declines in fertility and intergenerational co-residence may be less than popularly believed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, 1180 Observatory Dr., 53706, Madison, WI, USA

    James M. Raymo

  2. Department of Sociology, Hosei University, USA

    Saeko Kikuzawa

  3. School of Public Health, University of Michigan, USA

    Jersey Liang

  4. Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, Japan

    Erika Kobayashi

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  1. James M. Raymo
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  2. Saeko Kikuzawa
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  3. Jersey Liang
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  4. Erika Kobayashi
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Correspondence to James M. Raymo.

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Raymo, J.M., Kikuzawa, S., Liang, J. et al. Family structure and well-being at older ages in Japan. Journal of Population Research 25, 379–400 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03033896

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