ArticleAging clinical and experimental research2025
How does intergenerational support from adult children shape the intrinsic capacity of older adults? Empirical evidence from the CHARLS.
Article in Aging clinical and experimental research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Determinants of social health in later life: the roles of family integration, social participation, and psychosocial well-being.Frontiers in sociology · 2026Article
- Association between social support and life space mobility in older patients after percutaneous coronary intervention: mediating roles of health literacy and intrinsic capacity.Frontiers in public health · 2025Observational
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAs China undergoes a rapid demographic shift toward population aging, a critical challenge has emerged for healthy aging policy: how can intergenerational support from adult children be leveraged to maintain and improve the functional ability of older adults? Drawing on nationally representative data, this study investigates the association between such support and the intrinsic capacity of older adults, and explores the pathways through which it operates.
methodsThis study utilizes data from the 2015, 2018, and 2020 waves of the China health and retirement longitudinal study (CHARLS). A multidimensional index of intergenerational support from adult children is constructed, incorporating financial support, emotional closeness, and caregiving. Two-way fixed effects models are employed to estimate the impact of such support on the intrinsic capacity of older adults. Furthermore, a mediation analysis is conducted-using the bootstrap method-to examine potential pathways through social participation, activities of daily living (ADL), and instrumental activities of daily living (IADL).
resultsThe empirical findings indicate that all three forms of intergenerational support from adult children-financial, emotional, and caregiving-have significant positive effects on the intrinsic capacity of older adults, with caregiving showing the strongest impact. the effects vary across subgroups defined by urban-rural residence, educational attainment, and co-residence status, suggesting substantial heterogeneity. Mediation analysis reveals that social participation partially mediates the effect of financial support (accounting for 14.63% of the total effect), while ADL and IADL explain 60.28% and 53.90% of the effect of caregiving support, respectively.
conclusionintergenerational support from adult children significantly enhances the intrinsic capacity of older adults by promoting social engagement and maintaining functional ability. To advance healthy and active aging, policy efforts should adopt a function-oriented approach that strengthens both family-based support systems and community care infrastructure, while fostering cross-generational resource sharing and coordinated support.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.