Abstract
This paper explores the marriage needs of single elderly individuals in China's growing aging population. It analyzes their tendency to remarry, including the ways and reasons behind it. Additionally, it examines the attitudes of their children towards their remarriage and the challenges that come with it. This study utilized social support theory and social exchange theory as its starting point. Non-participant observation and in-depth interviews were conducted in the Blind Date Corner of Arab Square in Harbin, resulting in 13 in-depth interview files. Qualitative data analysis was performed using Nvivo 14 Plus software, which employed a three-stage coding analysis of grounded theory. This study found that the majority of single elderly individuals who visit the Blind Date Corner tend to cohabit rather than remarry. Additionally, the elderly primarily visit the Blind Date Corner to fulfill emotional, economic, daily life, and illness care needs. The main obstacles to elderly remarriage include intergenerational relationships, fear of betrayal, practical factors, and social pressure. Finally, this study found that some children understand their parents' need to find a partner, while others have reservations about their parents' remarriage in their later years due to concerns about the authenticity of the information in the Blind Date Corner.
Author Information
Wanchun Wang, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR
Zhen Sun, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau SAR
Paper Information
Conference: AGen2024
Stream: Loneliness
This paper is part of the AGen2024 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Wang W., & Sun Z. (2024) Silver-Haired Blind Date: An Exploration of the Remarriage Needs of the Elderly in Harbin ISSN: 2432-4183 The Asian Conference on Aging & Gerontology 2024: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 9-23) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2432-4183.2024.2
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2432-4183.2024.2
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