| Sumario: | Purpose 'Productive aging' indicated that the elderly can fulfill a promising, energetic, and productive life by making physical and mental adjustments and engaging in appropriate social participation1. Unlike in Western countries, the focus of Chinese elderly people's life after retirement usually shifts to the family2. Often, the elderly do unpaid family care work for their children. By using the perspective of productive aging, we investigate the current status of unpaid family work among elderly living in Beijing. Method Bass & Caro3 have identified four groups of factors (individual, situational, environmental, and social policy) that impact the productive participation of older people. This paper utilizes the framework (Figure 1) to analyze the data collected by the 2010 Survey of Chinese urban and rural elderly population. Through contingency table analysis and a chi-square test, the current status of older people engaged in unpaid family work in Beijing is presented. Then a multivariate logistic model was used to quantify the relationship between the four groups of related factors and engagement in unpaid family work among the elderly. Results & Discussion The results (Table 1) suggest that situational factors strongly correlate with doing family work among the elderly (55.6%). Older people who lived with their children and have a higher rating for their own health are more likely to engage in unpaid family work. Demographic characteristics such as gender and age were also related (22.7%). It suggests that some assistive technology and inclusive designs can be created for the younger elderly, especially for women, to enable them to enjoy an innovative and independent living in good health, comfort, and safety. It also may provide necessary information for the development of relevant policy in support of elderly caregivers.
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