Abstract
This study examines support for the older adults in northeastern Thailand’s rural population. In general, it followed the National Transfer Accounts conceptual model (United Nations, 2013), which examines intergenerational financial wealth transfers through institutional arrangements, namely familial and public sector asset transfer, asset-based allocations, and labor. Since this was a small study with face-to-face interviews using a structured questionnaire (see appendix), it also included less tangible forms of wealth such as food and emotional support. The sample 292 female heads of households who were taking care of aged parent(s) in Khon Kaen Province of northeastern Thailand. These women were providing modest financial support, ranging between 8,000 and 15,000 baht monthly. These women felt it was not a burden to support their parents and expected this same type of assistance when they become old. In about half the cases, siblings living elsewhere also contributed financial and emotional support. and hoped to receive more financial support from the government and more emotional support from the community. In this study, the asset-based transfer was mostly inheritance. A small but significant number of the older adults continued to work to cover their financial needs. The policy implications include a need for more specifically targeted forms of government social assistance for older adults in rural Thailand. This assistance can build upon the excellent rural extension services of the Ministry of Public Health for disease and fertility control.
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(Source: Constructed by the authors. The arrows include financial, in-kind and/or emotional transfers. Bold arrows indicate that they are discussed in this study.)
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14 February 2022
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-022-09487-5
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. Gayl D. Ness, Professor Emeritus of University of Michigan for reviewing and making useful suggestions. They are also thankful to the current and former Dean respectively of the College of Local Administration, Khon Kaen University, Associate Professor Peerasit Kamnunsilpa and Associate Professor Supawatanakorn Wongtanavasu as well as to Mr. Tony Criswell for their support and technical assistance. They appreciated very much the highly useful comments and suggestions from the two anonymous reviewers of this manuscript which helped improved it. They are moreover grateful to all the respondents for this study as well as others involved in the three communities.
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Ando, H., Kantavong, P., Matsukura, R. et al. Aging in Northeast Thai Communities: Who are and Will Be Supporting the Aged?. Ageing Int 48, 708–727 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-022-09484-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-022-09484-8