Impress of intergenerational emotional support on the depression in non-cohabiting parents

Table 1 Descriptive statistics of the study sample (4810)

Variables		mean/n (%)	SD
Dependent variable	Depressive symptoms (CESD-101 score) (0-30)	13.06	5.225
Independent variable	Face to face	3.94	2.546
	Almost every day	1224 (25.4)
	2-3 times a week	448 (9.3)
	Once a week	532 (10.9)
	Every two weeks	434 (9)
	Once a month	526 (10.9)
	Once every three months	494 (10.3)
	Once every six months	502 (10.4)
	Once a year	516 (10.7)
	Almost never	33 (0.7)
	Missing	110 (2.3)
	Phone contact	2.95	2.302
	Almost every day	531 (11)
	2-3 times a week	809 (16.8)
	Once a week	1086 (22.6)
	Every two weeks	655 (13.6)
	Once a month	471 (9.8)
	Once every three months	108 (2.2)
	Once every six months	47 (1)
	Once a year	15 (0.3)
	Almost never	301 (6.3)
	Missing	787 (16.4)
Demographic factors	Age	60.47	15.012
	45-50 (ref.)	583 (12.1)
	51-60	1479 (30.7)
	61-70	1543 (32.1)
	71-	1011 (21)
	Missing	194 (4)
	Gender
	Male (ref.)	2310 (48)
	Female	2494 (51.9)
	Missing	6 (0.1)
	Children’s number	2.77	1.316
	1 child	842 (17.5)
	2 children	1548 (32.2)
	3 children	1024 (21.3)
	4 children	644 (13.4)
	5 and above	752 (15.6)
	Gender of family children2
	Male	1086 (22.6)
	Female	748 (15.6)
	Both	2940 (61.1)
	Missing	36 (0.7)
Socio-economic factors	Education level3 (children)
	Illiterate	1 (0.0)
	1-6 years education	756 (15.7)
	7-12 years education	2509 (52.2)
	13 years education and above	1538 (32.0)
	Missing	6 (0.1)
	Income (children)4	2.96	1.215
	No income	946 (19.7)
	1-10000 yuan	271 (5.6)
	10001-50000 yuan	2139 (44.5)
	50001-100000 yuan	920 (19.1)
	More than 100000 yuan	534 (11.1)
	Areas of China
	Urban	1224 (25.4)
	Rural (ref.)	3559 (74.0)
	Missing	27 (0.6)
Current health conditions	Chronic disease
	No	1767 (36.7)
	Yes	3043 (63.3)
	Chronic diseases number5	1.97	0.846
	1	1143 (37.6)
	2	860 (28.3)
	3 and above	1040 (34.2)

¹CEDS-10: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Range 0-30, Mean = 13.06, SD = 5.225);

²Gender of family children: Classify all children in the family by sex into three categories (1 = male; 2 = female; 3 = both);

³Education level: Including 11 levels, 1 = no formal education (illiterate); 2 = didn’t finish primary school but could read and/or write; 3 = sishu/home school; 4 = elementary school; 5 = middle school; 6 = high school; 7 = vocational school; 8 = two or three-year college/associate degree; 9 = four-year college/bachelor degree; 10 = master degree; 11 = doctoral degree/PH.D. (were grouped into 4 groups based on the quartiles: 1 = 1 no formal education (illiterate); 2 = 2-4 (1-6years education); 3 = 5-7 (7-12 years education); 4 = 8-11 (13years education and above);

⁴Income: Total income of children in the past year, ranging from 1 (no income) to 12 (more than 300000 yuan);

⁵Chronic disease’s number: Total number of diagnosed chronic diseases (hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes or high blood glucose, cancer or malignant tumor, chronic lung diseases, liver disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, stomach or other digestive disease, emotional or psychiatric problems, memory-related diseases, arthritis or rheumatism, asthma) (range 0-14, Mean = 1.97, SD = 0.846).

Table 2 The results of intergenerational emotional support on depressive symptoms

Variables		Depressive symptoms (cesd-10 score) (0-30)1	F	P value2
Dependent variable	Depressive symptoms	13.06 ± 5.225
Independent variable	Face to face		6.622	0.000a
	almost every day	12.50 ± 5.478
	2-3 times a week	12.73 ± 5.158
	once a week	12.99 ± 4.764
	every two weeks	12.92 ± 5.290
	once a month	13.45 ± 5.107
	once every three months	13.34 ± 5.043
	once every six months	13.38 ± 4.895
	once a year	13.93 ± 5.353
	almost never	16.48 ± 6.723
	Phone contact		5.334	0.000a
	almost every day	12.97 ± 4.804
	2-3 times a week	12.90 ± 4.872
	once a week	13.14 ± 4.915
	every two weeks	13.83 ± 5.261
	once a month	14.13 ± 5.492
	once every three months	14.13 ± 6.148
	once every six months	13.91 ± 5.790
	once a year	12.70 ± 4.773
	almost never	12.20 ± 6.815
	frequency of contact3		5.717	0.001a
	Group 1: (both) (ref)	12.99 ± 5.071
	Group 2: (face to face)	13.33 ± 4.958
	Group 3: (phone)	12.90 ± 6.103
	Group 4: (neither)	14.28 ± 5.987

¹Values are mean ± SD;

²Interval;

^aP < 0.001;

³Group 1 (≥ every two week in frequency of “face to face” contact and ≥ 1 time/wk in frequency of “phone” contact); group 2 (≥ every two week in frequency of “face to face” contact and < 1 time/wk in frequency of “phone” contact); group 3 (< every two week in frequency of “face to face” contact and ≥ 1 time a week in frequency of “phone” contact) and group 4 (< every two week in frequency of “face to face” contact and < 1 time a week in frequency of “phone” contact).

Table 3 Results between other variables and depression

Variables		Depressive symptoms (cesd-10 score) (0-30)1	F or t	P value6
Demographic factors	Age		0.600	0.615
	45-50 (ref.)	12.81 ± 5.070
	51-60	13.14 ± 5.141
	61-70	13.02 ± 5.290
	71-	13.09 ± 5.245
	Gender		4.641	0.03a
	Male (ref.)	12.85 ± 5.123
	Female	13.24 ± 5.314
	Children’s number		7.775	0.000b
	1 child	12.20 ± 4.628
	2 children	13.22 ± 4.903
	3 children	13.46 ± 5.354
	4 children	13.20 ± 5.037
	5 and above	13.00 ± 6.279
	Gender of family children2		3.881	0.021a
	Male	12.88 ± 4.863
	Female	12.70 ± 4.936
	Both	13.22 ± 5.403
Socio- economic factors	Education level3 (children)		30.738	0.000b
	illiterate	15.00
	1-6 years education	14.40 ± 5.669
	7-12 years education	13.16 ± 5.264
	13 years education and above	12.22 ± 4.76
	income (children)4		13.112	0.000b
	No income	13.37 ± 5.481
	1-10000 yuan	14.15 ± 5.754
	10001-50000 yuan	13.23 ± 5.384
	50001-100000 yuan	12.74 ± 4.781
	More than 100000 yuan	11.80 ± 4.238
	areas of China		0.678	0.498
	Urban	13.14 ± 5.181
	Rural (ref.)	13.03 ± 5.248
Current health conditions	Chronic disease		-8.627	0.000b
	No	12.21 ± 4.734
	Yes	13.55 ± 5.431
	Chronic diseases num5		57.750	0.000b
	1	12.52 ± 5.049
	2	13.24 ± 5.004
	3 and above	14.93 ± 5.871

¹CEDS-10: Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (Range 0-30);

²Gender of family children: Classify all children in the family by sex into three categories (1 = male; 2 = female; 3 = both);

³Education level: Including 11 levels, 1 = no formal education (illiterate); 2 = didn’t finish primary school but could read and/or write; 3 = sishu/home school; 4 = elementary school; 5 = middle school; 6 = high school; 7 = vocational school; 8 = two or three-year college/associate degree; 9 = four-year college/bachelor degree; 10 = master degree; 11 = doctoral degree/PH.D. (were grouped into 4 groups based on the quartiles: 1 = 1 no formal education (illiterate); 2 = 2-4 (1-6years education); 3 = 5-7 (7-12 years education); 4 = 8-11 (13years education and above);

⁴Income: Total income of children in the past year, ranging from 1(no income) to 12 (more than 300000 yuan), mean = 3.01, SD = 0.996;

⁵Chronic disease’s number: Total number of diagnosed chronic diseases (hypertension, dyslipidemia, diabetes or high blood glucose, cancer or malignant tumor, chronic lung diseases, liver disease, heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, stomach or other digestive disease, emotional or psychiatric problems, memory-related diseases, arthritis or rheumatism, asthma) (range 0-14, Mean = 2.21, SD = 1.305);

⁶Interval;

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.001.

Table 4 The results of stepwise multiple linear regression

Modle	independent variables	Regression coefficient		t	Sig1
		B	Beta
Modle 1	Constant	11.301	0.270	41.902	0.000b
	Chronic disease num	1.249	0.126	9.921	0.000b
Modle 2	Constant	14.778	0.570	25.929	0.000b
	Chronic disease num	1.207	0.125	9.667	0.000b
	Children’s education	-1.084	0.157	-6.907	0.000b
Modle 3	Constant	13.797	0.595	23.186	0.000b
	Chronic disease num	1.229	0.124	9.889	0.000b
	Children’s education	-1.093	0.156	-7.006	0.000b
	Face to face	0.228	0.042	5.410	0.000b
Modle 4	Constant	14.504	0.616	23.551	0.000b
	Chronic disease num	1.245	0.124	10.052	0.000b
	Children’s education	-0.946	0.159	-5.935	0.000b
	Face to face	0.216	0.042	5.129	0.000b
	Children’s income	-0.380	0.089	-4.258	0.000b
Modle 5	Constant	15.414	0.696	22.136	0.000b
	Chronic disease num	1.261	0.124	10.178	0.000b
	Children’s education	-1.019	0.161	-6.317	0.000b
	Face to face	0.202	0.042	4.758	0.000b
	Children’s income	-0.421	0.090	-4.668	0.000b
	Phone call	-0.146	0.053	-2.787	0.005b
Modle 6	Constant	14.752	0.765	19.290	0.000b
	Chronic disease num	1.253	0.124	10.120	0.000b
	Children’s education	-1.026	0.161	-6.365	0.000b
	Face to face	0.203	0.042	4.795	0.000b
	Children’s income	-0.417	0.090	-4.620	0.000b
	Phone call	-0.142	0.053	-2.707	0.007a
	Gender	0.438	0.210	2.090	0.037

¹Interval,

^aP < 0.05,

^bP < 0.001.