Introduction
Modernisation has been happening in Western countries for more than two centuries, since the industrial revolution took off in the 18th century. As a latecomer, China has been rapidly modernising only since 1949, and quickening its pace since 1978 (Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011). The four modernisations, encompassing modernising the fields of agriculture, industry, national defence, and science and technology, were set forth as development goals in China in 1963, and enacted officially in 1978. They have been adopted as a means of rejuvenating China's economy and become a very important direction of China's policies (Hsü Reference Hsü2000). There are some distinctive features that have manifested during the course of modernisation that China may claim as its own (Cao Reference Cao2009; Wang Reference Wang2009). For instance, the sequence of the advent of economic development and the challenges of population ageing has been reversed during China's modernisation (Calvo and Williamson Reference Calvo and Williamson2008). In other words, China has been confronted with the challenges of an ageing population before it has been able to ensure a basic living standard for all its citizens, including older adults (Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011). Moreover, as China has compressed its modernisation process within a much shorter period than that of most Western countries (He Reference He1998a, Reference He1998b, Reference He2003; Ma Reference Ma2006), the Chinese government has been unable to spare sufficient effort to attend to the adjustment needs of its senior citizens when they feel the pressures of modernisation. Such a ‘compressed’ mode of modernisation has further given birth to the modernisation strategy of first developing the urban areas (Sun Reference Sun2003). Unfortunately, the anticipation of the ‘spread effect’ (urban areas, as the centre of modernisation, would spread their fruitful modernisation outcomes to rural areas in the periphery of modernisation forces) has been replaced by the ‘backlash effect’ (which makes rich regions more prosperous and under-developed regions even poorer; Sun Reference Sun2005). Significant inequality and resource disparities are now observed between urban and rural areas in contemporary China (see Kanbur and Zhang Reference Kanbur and Zhang1999; Xue Reference Xue1997; Yang and Zhou Reference Yang and Zhou1999).
While it is important to address different needs of older people with varying characteristics in the process of societal changes, understanding the pace of alignment between the ageing population and these socio-economic transformations is critical. However, at least in China, most research attention on adaptation to societal changes has focused on individual modernity of the young people rather than older people (Bai Reference Bai2011). Little research is available on older adults' individual modernity, despite the fact that they are one of the vulnerable groups in the modernisation process.
Individual modernity refers to ‘the typical pattern of more or less related motivational, evaluative, attitudinal and temperamental traits that is most frequently observed in people in contemporary highly industrialised societies' (Yang Reference Yang2003). Yang (Reference Yang1998) has further conceptualised Chinese responses to societal modernisation into four individual modernity modes, namely the resistance mode, the accommodation mode, the coping mode and the withdrawal mode. Facing rapid changes and challenges in societal modernisation, people may react differently to this process. Some may choose to adopt the resistance mode by retaining their traditional values and behaviours while refusing to make any significant changes. In contrast, another group of people choose to adopt the accommodation mode by accepting modern values and behaviours while giving up the traditional ones. The mixed combinations of traditional and modern elements (i.e. values and behaviours) form another two modes of individual modernity. There are a group of people who see both the convenience and benefit of societal changes and the difficulty in adapting fully to those changes. As a result, some try their best to cope with the challenges using a coping mode while some may simply escape from further contact with modern behaviours using a withdrawal mode.
Since those who adapt well to societal modernisation are found to be more likely to enjoy positive life attitudes and further to achieve successful ageing (Bai Reference Bai2011; Pillutla et al. Reference Pillutla, Farh, Lee and Lin2007; Xie, Schaubroeck and Lam Reference Xie, Schaubroeck and Lam2008), an examination of older people's responses to modernisation and the associated socio-demographic correlates could provide the starting point for addressing inequitable circumstances faced by these older people. This study examines the adaptation status of older people to the process of societal modernisation, and further identifies the associated socio-demographic correlates. The findings could be seen as ground work to considering strategies and interventions to address issues and challenges faced by older people in the context of rapid modernisation in China.
Societal modernisation and ageing
Social changes induced by societal modernisation are the most pervasive and drastic socio-environmental changes that may negatively affect older people (Chow Reference Chow2007; Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011; Cowgill Reference Cowgill, Cowgill and Holmes1972; Lai Reference Lai2009; Palmore and Manton Reference Palmore and Manton1974). There are a number of models available for explaining the lowering status of older people in modern society, while modernisation and ageing theory is one of the most important and reasonable explanations. According to Cowgill, modernisation should be defined as
the transformation of a total society from a relatively rural way of life based on animated power, limited technology, relatively undifferentiated institutions, parochial and traditional outlook and values, toward a predominantly urban way of life, based on inanimate sources of power, highly differentiated institutions, matched by segmented individual roles, and a cosmopolitan outlook which emphasizes efficiency and progress. (Reference Cowgill and Gubrium1974: 127)
The basic hypothesis of this theory is that the status and esteem that older people occupy in the society will decline as a society becomes more modernised; and the four fundamental forces that contribute to the declining status of older people in modern society include health technology, scientific technology, urbanisation, literacy and mass education (Cowgill and Holmes Reference Cowgill and Holmes1972). Traditionally, people in China were said to look forward to entering into old age, as older people in the Chinese culture enjoyed prestigious roles and statuses both within the family and in society (Tsai and Lopez Reference Tsai and Lopez1997). Recent studies have tended to agree that modernisation plays a major role in diminishing respect and reducing the familial support for older parents in Chinese societies (Chow Reference Chow2007; Lai Reference Lai2009).
As China has to ‘compress’ its modernisation process into a short period of time, sacrifices have been made for the rapid declining influence of some traditional values (Chiu and Yu Reference Chiu and Yu2001; Chow Reference Chow, Chi, Chappell and Lubben2001; Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011; Joseph and Phillips Reference Joseph and Phillips1999). Realising the fact that both male and female children had to work to earn a living, current older parents in China were even found to have lower expectations for obtaining future elder care from their children than their children's willingness to provide care (Zhan Reference Zhan2004). Ambiguity of roles after retirement is further identified to have adversely influenced older people's life satisfaction and their subjective wellbeing (Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011; Chou and Chow Reference Chou and Chow2005). With the deepening of economic reforms in China, and the subsequent shift towards a market economy system, better educated younger generations gradually find that they get higher salaries than their older parents. Thus, older adults may not be the ones who make important decisions within the family, as bills are now often paid by their adult children (Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011). The authoritative position of older parents within the family is becoming a myth of the past. Another study even drew the conclusion that older people in Chinese societies were no longer living in a ‘safe haven’ and some might suffer from abuse (Yan, Kum and Yeung Reference Yan, Tang and Yeung2002). Education was later found to be an important factor in resisting the negative effects of modernisation. Cheung and Kwan (Reference Cheung and Kwan2009) found that although filial piety and cash transfer tended to be lower in more modernised cities (with higher average gross domestic product per capita), the reduction in filial support in the course of modernisation was less likely to happen among better-educated citizens, indicating the potential of education policy and practice in sustaining filial piety in the process of societal modernisation.
Individual modernity modes and their possible effects
The common wisdom is that one's individual modernity level is positively correlated with the modernisation level of the society in which one lives. However, Inkeles, Broaded and Cao (Reference Inkeles, Broaded and Cao1997) found that in contrast to the findings of the prior six-nation study (Inkeles and Smith Reference Inkeles and Smith1976), Chinese rural respondents had significantly higher individual modernity scores than their urban counterparts. Such contradictory and unexplained findings may indicate that one is not simply high or low on a ‘modernity’ scale; rather, modernisation is multi-dimensional, and for this reason one should expect varied and complex responses to social change.
In a line of studies examining the possible effects of individual modernity modes, most identified the positive effects of better ability to adapt (e.g. Kunzmann, Little and Smith Reference Kunzmann, Little and Smith2000; Pillutla et al. Reference Pillutla, Farh, Lee and Lin2007; Smith et al. Reference Smith, Fleeson, Geiselmann, Settersten, Kunzmann, Baltes and Mayer1999; Xie, Schaubroeck and Lam Reference Xie, Schaubroeck and Lam2008). Demographic change, the rapid societal modernisation process and the call for active ageing impose new demands on older people (Pavlova and Silbereisen Reference Pavlova and Silbereisen2012). Whether older people are able to accommodate to the transformation in values and behaviours would determine to some extent how they maintain a positive life attitude and further to achieve positive ageing (Bengtson et al. Reference Bengtson, Dowd, Smith and Inkeles1975).
Specifically, personal alignment to societal changes was found to predict better subjective wellbeing and life satisfaction in German elderly people (Kunzmann, Little and Smith Reference Kunzmann, Little and Smith2000; Smith et al. Reference Smith, Fleeson, Geiselmann, Settersten, Kunzmann, Baltes and Mayer1999). In-class projects among undergraduate students in Hong Kong showed that a higher individual modernity level was related to greater willingness of students to co-operate with peers in group projects (Pillutla et al. Reference Pillutla, Farh, Lee and Lin2007). Another interesting finding was that higher individual modernity levels were even effective in decreasing job stress for Chinese workers, thus further influencing health outcomes (Xie, Schaubroeck and Lam Reference Xie, Schaubroeck and Lam2008).
Only a few studies have examined the effect of individual modernity level on various domains of older adults' life. Most of these studies focused on the effect of behavioural modernity (BM). For instance, it was found that getting access to information and communication technology such as the internet could help older people avoid social isolation (White et al. Reference White, McConnell, Clipp, Bynum, Teague, Navas, Graven and Halbrecht1999), keep them affiliated with mainstream society in the United Kingdom (Selwyn et al. Reference Selwyn, Gorard, Furlong and Madden2003), improve American elders' health status and cognitive functions (Lagana et al. Reference Lagana, Oliver, Ainsworth and Edwards2011), enhance their self-esteem, and empower themselves in Hong Kong, a technocratic society (Fung Reference Fung2003). The advent of phone contact with friends and online communication are further found to be transforming how American older people get access to social support (Mancini Reference Mancini1980; Seckin Reference Seckin2013).
Predictors of individual modernity
In addition to the factors salient to societal modernisation, studies successfully identified several variables that might influence individual modernity. To highlight some important findings, the younger generation, when compared with their older counterparts, was found to be more modern with respect to the concept of time and relational aspects (Liu Reference Liu1966; Lu and Kao Reference Lu and Kao2002). Another interesting finding was that Chinese females were more modern than males (Zhang, Zheng and Wang Reference Zhang, Zheng and Wang2003). Results of the Ankara Family Study on married women showed that women with urban residential experiences had consistently higher scores on the modernism indexes (Schnaiberg Reference Schnaiberg1970). A study with a sample of Chinese students reported similar findings (Zhang, Zheng and Wang Reference Zhang, Zheng and Wang2003). But findings were inconsistent concerning the impact of education on individual modernity. After interviewing more than 6,000 young men in Argentina, Chile, India, Israel, Nigeria and East Pakistan, Inkeles and Smith (Reference Inkeles and Smith1976) found that certain kinds of social experiences, such as participating in formal education and organisations, strongly affected the development of modern values among individuals. Similar findings were reported in Armer and Youtz's (Reference Armer and Youtz1971) study on the impact of formal education on individual modernity in an African society. Although education was also found to be predictive of higher individual modernity among Chinese students (Zhang, Zheng and Wang Reference Zhang, Zheng and Wang2003), this seemed not to apply to other populations (Inkeles, Broaded and Cao Reference Inkeles, Broaded and Cao1997). Rather, the effect of occupation was found to be stronger than that of education in forming qualities of modernity in China (Inkeles, Broaded and Cao Reference Inkeles, Broaded and Cao1997). Similarly, Brooks (Reference Brooks1977) also suggested that employment status would affect a person's individual modernity level.
In addition to these variables, it is considered that positive interactions with a spouse, younger generations and neighbours may also be related to more social support, which may help older people to go through the challenges in the process of social change (Chalise, Kai and Saito Reference Chalise, Kai and Saito2010; Cho Reference Cho2011; Thoits Reference Thoits1995). Better health status may allow older people to remain active in exploring new things and enjoy better life satisfaction (Schafer, Mustillo and Ferraro Reference Schafer, Mustillo and Ferraro2013). These factors may affect individual modernity modes of older people either directly or indirectly, thus, the possible effects of these factors on individual modernity were also examined in this study.
Methods
Sampling
The research protocol of this study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of The University of Hong Kong. This study was carried out in Wuhan, an industrialised city in the central part of China. As the capital of Hubei province, Wuhan is situated along the Yangtze River. With more than eight million residents, it is one of the cities in China experiencing rapid population ageing. In 2009, the number of older people aged 60 and above in Wuhan was about 1.14 million, accounting for 14 per cent of the total population. Wuhan consists of 13 districts with seven being urban and six suburban.
The primary criteria for the selection of participants in this study were that they must be local residents, physically living in Wuhan and aged 60 years or above, with normal cognitive abilities. Multi-stage proportionate sampling was employed. As a first step, five out of the 13 districts in Wuhan were randomly selected, with three classified as urban and two suburban. Each district was then sub-divided into residential communities and a list of elders living in each of the selected residential communities was obtained from the staff in the community offices. 500 potential respondents were approached who were randomly selected in each residential community and unevenly distributed based on the population size of each district. In the end, a total of 445 elderly people were successfully interviewed whose answers had less than 5 per cent missing values. The response rate was rather high (89%). Social and demographic characteristics of the participants in this study are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1. Socio-demographic characteristics of participants in the survey
Note: N=445.
Data collection
All respondents were required to sign a consent form to indicate that they understood fully the purpose of the study. However, owing to the fact that older participants were either poor in vision or had hardly received any education, face-to-face questionnaire interviews were conducted at the end. Five students were recruited as interviewers from the Department of Sociology of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan. They were clearly informed of the objectives and purposes of the study and, after several sessions of training, the survey was conducted in the summer of 2009.
Measurements
Socio-demographic characteristics
Participants were divided into three age groups: young-old (60–70), mid-old (71–80) and old-old (above 80). Their socio-economic conditions were measured in accordance with their education level (primary school or below, middle school, college or above), annual income (<¥5,000, ¥5,000–15,000, >¥15,000) (US $1=RMB ¥6.8 at the time of data collection) and working statuses (retired or no longer farming; still employed or farming; active in doing other business). Of these three, they were further divided into three levels. Those achieving high scores in all the three aspects and those high in two of them and moderate in one were all classified as attaining high socio-economic status; those who were low in all three and those low in two and moderate in one were all labelled as possessing low socio-economic status; while the rest were all classified as having moderate socio-economic status. Whether they were presently married, divorced or bereaved, or had never married were reported as their marital status. Their living arrangement was measured by whether they were living in elderly homes, alone, living with a spouse or in extended families. Older participants were asked to rate their neighbourhood relationships as bad, normal or good. Health status was determined by chronic illnesses suffered (i.e. stroke or cerebrovascular diseases, rheumatism, diabetes, hypertension, cataract, heart disease, respiratory diseases, digestive diseases, etc.) and respondents were divided into three groups according to the number conceived, including no illness group, moderate group (one or two diseases) and severe group (three or more diseases). Older participants were asked to tick from the activity list provided (i.e. watching television, listening to radio, reading books or newspapers, dealing with household chores, take caring of grandchild(ren), doing exercises to keep healthy, chatting with relatives and friends, and playing card games or chess). They were further divided into three groups according to the number of daily activities that they had participated per day: inactive group (none or one type of activity), moderate group (two to five) and active group (six or more).
Individual modernity modes
Individual modernity examined in this study refers to the typical pattern of more or less related attitudinal and behaviour traits that are most frequently observed in people in contemporary highly industrialised societies. The modified version of Yang's (Reference Yang2004) Multidimensional Scale of Chinese Individual Modernity (MS-CIM), consisting of 25 items, and later validated by Bai (Reference Bai2011), was used to examine the attitudinal modernity (AM) of the older participants. The seven factors include Affective Hedonism – Freedom of Marriage (AH-FOM) (e.g. as long as a couple love each other, they may get married even if they have different educational backgrounds), Affective Hedonism – Respect for Affection (AH-RFA) (e.g. as long as a couple love each other, it would be all right to have sex without legal marriage), Egalitarianism and Open-Mindedness – Egalitarianism (EOM-E) (e.g. children are supposed to argue against their parents if they consider their own opinions are reasonable), Social Isolation and Self-Reliance – Social Isolation (SISR-SI) (e.g. One may know fewer people when living in the city, thus, it may save a lot of unnecessary social interactions), Optimism and Assertiveness (OA) (e.g. No matter how terrible the environment is, as long as he tries his best, he may finally succeed), Egalitarianism and Open-Mindedness – Open-Mindedness (EOM-OM) (e.g. As long as needed, the scene about sex should not be cut from movies) and Social Isolation and Self-Reliance – Self-Reliance (SISR-SR) (e.g. After children get married, they can choose not to live with their parents). The score range of the first factor, AH-FOM, was from 4 to 30 and it was from 4 to 12 with respect to the second factor, AH-RFA. Regarding the third, fourth and fifth factors, EOM-E, SISR-SI and OA, the minimum score was 4 while the maximum score was 24, and the the score range of the last two factors, EOM-OM and SISR-SR, was from 4 to 18. The confirmatory factor analysis on the dimension of the AM (χ2=422.031, degrees of freedom (df)=251, p < 0.001, Comparative Fit Index (CFI)=0.868, Goodness of Fit Index (GFI)=0.914, Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA)=0.044) supported the seven-factor model with 25 items, which was suggested by the exploratory factor analysis. The overall scale had a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.760 and Guttman split-half reliability of 0.667, while the internal consistency reliabilities of the seven sub-scales of the MS-CIM were also acceptable. Except for SISR-SR, which had a Cronbach's α coefficient of 0.472, the Cronbach's α coefficients for the other six sub-scales were all above 0.55 and the Guttman split-half ranged from 0.412 to 0.685. In addition, the corrected item total correlations for each item were almost all in a moderate range, and the test–retest reliability reached 0.834.
Based on the questionnaire developed by Smith and Inkeles (Reference Smith and Inkeles1966), the following variables were used to measure the BM of the older Chinese participants: (a) access to mass media, (b) number of organisations they belong to, (c) number of correct general knowledge answers, (d) number of digital products they use, (e) willingness to plan, (f) investment interest, (g) openness to make friends with strangers, and (h) rural–urban preference. Their access to mass media was measured by their frequency of watching movies and television, listening to radio, reading books and magazines, and surfing the internet. Two questions were used to measure older participants' general knowledge, including where Washington DC is and where Moscow is. They were asked to report whether they used a mobile phone, computer, camera, CD player, electronic albums, and other products in order to calculate the number of digital products they used. The frequency and their habits of planning and arranging for things beforehand were used to measure their willingness to plan. A hypothetical question asking whether they would make any investment if given ¥5,000 was used to measure their investment interest. Their degree of willingness to make friends with strangers coming from foreign countries was used to measure their openness to make friends with strangers. As for their rural–urban preference, participants were asked whether they prefer a traditional rural way of life or a modern urban way of life. The Cronbach's α coefficient for these variables was 0.734 and the Guttman split-half reliability was 0.752. Concerning the criteria-referenced validity of BM, it was, as predicted, positively correlated with socio-economic status (r=0.571, p < 0.001), with daily activities (r=0.329, p < 0.001), with self-image (r=0.370, p < 0.001) and with life satisfaction (r=0.160, p < 0.01).
According to Yang (Reference Yang1998), in the accommodation mode (Group A), people would give up their traditional values and behaviours in order to get accepted by the modern society; in the resistance mode (Group D), people would affirm or retain their traditional values and behaviours by refusing to make changes; in the withdrawal mode (Group B), people would choose to escape from or avoid further contact with particular changes due to unbearable pressure; and in the coping mode (Group C), people would be very active, rational and flexible in dealing with environment change induced by societal modernisation. In this study, those with high levels in both AM and BM are defined as Group A (accommodation mode); those with low levels in both are defined as Group D (resistance mode); and those with high AM but low BM and low AM but high BM are categorised as Group B (withdrawal mode) and Group C (coping mode), respectively.
Data analysis
Data entry and analysis was done by using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 17.0. The two-step cluster analysis was performed to divide older participants into four individual modernity groups, in which cluster distances were estimated using the log-likelihood function so that the cluster membership was assigned in accordance with the maximum decrease in log likelihood. Compared with traditional clustering techniques, the two-step cluster analysis has several desirable features, including its ability to handle both categorical and continuous variables, its capability to select automatically the number of clusters and its applicability to large data files (SPSS 2001). This approach allowed model comparisons and decision on the optimal number of clusters by means of the Bayesian information criterion (BIC). Then cross-tabulations with chi-square tests were conducted for individual modernity modes with related socio-demographic characteristic categories. The multinomial logistic regression was further conducted in which the individual modernity mode was regressed on a set of independent variables selected through previous chi-square tests. Forward stepping was specified as the way that SPSS built the regression equation. In comparison to discriminant analysis, multinomial logistic regression is less affected by the variance–covariance inequalities across the groups and can easily handle categorical independent variables.
Results
The formation of the four modes of individual modernity
The scores of the seven important dimensions of the AM were selected as the potential clustering variables. Since multi-collinearity may affect the analysis, the correlations between the clustering variables were examined before cluster analysis was conducted. No strong correlations (>0.5) were observed between these variables and more than half of the correlation coefficients were less than 0.25. Thus, the potential multi-collinearity effect was considered insignificant.
A two-cluster model was obtained (BIC=9,243) and the distribution of the seven components for individuals between the clusters is shown in Table 2. Residents in cluster 1 (N=164) are characterised by having higher scores of AM in terms of its seven sub-factors while those in cluster 2 (N=281) are characterised by having lower scores in all areas of AM. To facilitate further analysis, these two clusters were named as the high and low AM groups, respectively. The stability of the cluster results was checked through another round of cluster analysis for a random half of the sample (N=222). The same clustering variables were used to group older participants and it also generated a two-cluster solution with 144 in the high AM cluster and 78 in the low AM cluster. In comparison to their cluster membership previously obtained from the whole sample, only 5 per cent of the participants were assigned to a different group. As suggested by Hair et al. (Reference Hair, Black, Babin and Anderson2010), a result with between 10 and 20 per cent being assigned to a different group should be considered as a stable solution. Thus, the cross-validation strongly supported this two-cluster solution.
Table 2. The distribution of regrouped participants' attitudinal modernity between the clusters
Notes: AH-FOM: Affective Hedonism – Freedom of Marriage. AH-RFA: Affective Hedonism – Respect for Affection. EOM-E: Egalitarianism and Open-Mindedness – Egalitarianism. SISR-SI: Social Isolation and Self-Reliance – Social Isolation. OA: Optimism and Assertiveness. EOM-OM: Egalitarianism and Open-Mindedness – Open-Mindedness. SISR-SR: Social Isolation and Self-Reliance – Self-Reliance. df: degrees of freedom.
Significance level: *** p < 0.001.
The independent-samples t-test indicated that the mean scores on the seven factors (AH-FOM, AH-RFA, EOM-E, SISR-SI, OA, EOM-OM and SISR-SR) of the high-level group were 25.073, 8.921, 20.146, 14.329, 20.640, 11.531, and 12.457, respectively, while the means on these factors of the low-level group were 21.448, 5.918, 17.662, 11.384, 17.107, 8.990 and 10.904, respectively. In addition, the means between these two groups differed significantly at the p < 0.001 level on all the seven factors.*
BM items were then selected as the clustering variables for the two-step cluster analysis. These variables included the access to mass media, number of organisations they belonged to, number of correct answers to general knowledge questions, number of digital products they used, willingness to plan, investment interest, willingness to make friends with strangers and rural–urban preference, whose reliability coefficient reached 0.734. The results also suggested a two-cluster solution (BIC=2,214). As shown in Table 3, residents in cluster 1 (N=266) are characterised by higher scores of BM in terms of all areas and those in cluster 2 (N=199) are characterised by relatively lower scores. Similarly, these two clusters were named as the high BM group and low BM group, respectively. To test the stability of this cluster result, another round of cluster analysis was conducted for a random half of the sample (N=222). The same clustering variables were used to group older participants and it still generated a two-cluster solution, with 129 in the high AM cluster and 93 in the low AM cluster. In comparison to their cluster membership previously obtained from the entire sample, only two (0.9%) of them were now grouped into a different cluster, demonstrating the stability of the clustering solution. The independent-samples t-test indicated that the mean scores on the eight factors (number of organisations, general knowledge, use of digital product, access to mass media, willingness to plan, interest in investment, openness to make friends, rural–urban preference) of the high-level group were 0.368, 1.936, 1.477, 14.992, 2.414, 3.895, 3.801 and 1.677, respectively, while the means on these factors of the low-level group were 0.201, 0.430, 0.285, 11.218, 2.358, 2.855, 3.028 and 1.536, respectively. The means between these two groups differed significantly at the p < 0.001 level on all the factors, except for ‘willingness to plan’. But ‘willingness to plan’ was still retained in the BM scale since it has been considered to be an important characteristic of a modern person.
Table 3. The distribution of regrouped participants' behavioural modernity between the clusters
Notes: No. of organisations: number of social organisations they belong to. General knowledge: number of correct general knowledge answers. Use of digital product: number of digital products they use. Access to information: getting access to mass media. Willingness to plan: frequency and their habits of planning and arranging for things beforehand. Interest in investment: interest in making investments if given ¥5,000. Openness to make friends: degree of willingness to make friends with strangers coming from foreign countries. Rural–urban preference: preference for a rural way of life or a modern urban way of life. df: degrees of freedom.
Significance levels: ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001.
Those with high levels in both AM and BM are defined as Group A (accommodation mode, N=105); those with low levels in both are defined as Group D (resistance mode, N=120); and those with high AM but low BM and low AM but high BM are categorised as Group B (withdrawal mode, N=59) and Group C (coping mode, N=161). The classification is shown in Table 4.
Table 4. Attitudinal and behavioural modernity group classification
Notes: Group A: accommodation mode. Group B: withdrawal mode. Group C: coping mode. Group D: resistance mode.
Socio-demographic correlates of individual modernity modes
Cross-tabulations with chi-square tests were conducted for individual modernity modes with related socio-demographic characteristic categories. The results are shown in Table 5. When the four attitudinal–behavioural groups were crossed by the variables such as urban–rural residence, age group, gender, socio-economic status, working status, marital status, living arrangement, neighbourhood relationship, chronic illness and daily activity levels, significant differences were discerned between the actual and expected values with significant χ2 values in almost all different groups except among different groups in terms of working status, neighborhood relationship and illness. Table 5 shows that rural single female elders in the old-old group, living alone or in institutions, were most likely to be grouped into the extreme groups. They either tended to have high levels in both AM and BM (Group A: accommodation mode) or have low levels in both (resistance mode). Another interesting finding was that rural widowed female elders in the old-old group with low socio-economic status and moderate interest in taking daily activities while living in elders' homes were most likely to have high AM and low BM (Group B: withdrawal mode), but they were least likely to have low AM and high BM (Group C: coping mode). In contrast, urban married male elders who were in the young-old group with high socio-economic status, most active in taking daily activities and living with their spouse or in extended families, were most inclined to have low AM but high BM (Group C: coping mode) and they were least likely to be grouped into the withdrawal mode (Group D). Thus, crude evidence was provided for the acceptable criterion validity of this four-mode classification.
Table 5. Cross-tabulations between attitudinal–behavioural group membership and other characteristics with chi-square tests
Notes: See Table 4 for details of Groups A–D. df: degrees of freedom.
By further conducting multinomial logistic regression analysis, it was found that older Chinese people's individual modernity modes were predicted by their urban–rural residence, age, gender, socio-economic status, living arrangement and daily activity level. Socio-economic status seemed to be a potent predictor in Step 1. In Step 2, gender was added as another significant predictor. Then, it came to living arrangement in Step 3, urban–rural residence in Step 4, age in Step 5 and, finally, daily activity level in Step 6. However, the variable marital status did not retain its statistical significance in this multivariate context successfully. It has never been identified as a significant predictor as the stepwise procedure stops at Step 6. To select the final model with the best overall fit, all the three possible criteria were considered for a proper decision, namely the lowest Akaike information criterion (AIC), the lowest Bayesian information criterion (BIC) and the customary last step rule. According to the lowest BIC, the best model would be Model 2. But according to the lowest AIC and the customary last step rule, the best model would be Model 6 (see Table 6). In addition, the −2 log likelihood and the chi-square decreased throughout the six steps at the p < 0.01 level, which indicated that each variable if dropped in the nested model would matter significantly in predicting the dependent variable. Thus, in the end, the model in step 6 was selected as the final model for more detailed analysis. The likelihood ratio test showed that knowing the independent variables improved the accuracy of predicting older people's individual modernity modes. Cox & Snell R 2 (0.430) and Nagelkerke R 2 (0.462) further indicated that a satisfactory amount of variance had been explained in the final model. From the practical perspective, the final model entitled us to a more than half chance of correctly classifying the older participants into the four different modes of individual modernity, which showed acceptable accuracy in terms of prediction.
Table 6. Step summary
Notes: AIC: Akaike information criterion. BIC: Bayesian information criterion. df: degrees of freedom.
Adjusted odds ratios of the accommodation mode, the withdrawal mode and the coping mode relative to the resistance mode, accommodation and withdrawal relative to coping mode, as well as accommodation relative to withdrawal mode are presented in Table 7. Among the older participants in the present study, being male was associated with an elevated odds ratio of using accommodation or coping methods. Urban older people in the young-old group were more likely to use the coping mode while those who lived in institutions were more inclined to withdraw from modern life, especially in terms of behaviour. In addition, low or moderate socio-economic status and low or moderate daily activity level were associated with a decreased odds ratio of using the accommodation and coping modes.
Table 7. Multinomial logistic regression analyses of use of accommodation, withdrawal and coping modes among the older participants
Notes: OR: odds ratio. CI: confidence interval. Ref.: reference category. Goodness of fit (Pearson chi-square): χ2=547.297; degrees of freedom (df)=564; p=0.685. Likelihood ratio tests: χ2=247.635; df=33; p=0.000. Cox & Snell R 2: 0.430. Nagelkerke R 2: 0.462.
Significance levels: p < 0.05, ** p < 0.01, *** p < 0.001 .
To understand better the socio-demographic correlates of older participants' individual modernity, two multinomial logistic regression procedures were conducted to examine the differences by specifying resistance and later coping as reference groups. Additional findings were observed: (a) relative to the resistance mode, those who were male, with relatively higher socio-economic status and active in participating in daily activities were prone to use the accommodation mode; (b) relative to the resistance mode, those who were living in urban areas, relatively young and active in participating in daily activities tended to adopt the coping mode; (c) relative to the accommodation mode, coping mode was more often used among urban elderly, especially those who were relatively young, and living in multi-generational settings; (d) relative to the coping mode, being rural elderly, female, living in elderly homes and having low socio-economic status predicted the use of the withdrawal mode.
Discussion
Facing rapid changes and challenges in societal modernisation, participants reacted differently to this process. The results of this study showed that 23.8 per cent of Chinese older participants used an accommodation mode in adapting to societal modernisation, 27.0 per cent used a resistance mode, 13.3 per cent used the withdrawal mode and 36.2 per cent used a coping mode. The findings also allowed us to predict older people's individual modernity modes by using such socio-demographic characteristics as urban–rural residence, age, gender, socio-economic status, living arrangement and daily activities.
These findings may, to some extent, help to solve several of the discrepancies in previous studies. For instance, Inkeles, Broaded and Cao (Reference Inkeles, Broaded and Cao1997) found that in contrast to the outcome of the six-nation study (Inkeles and Smith Reference Inkeles and Smith1976), Chinese rural respondents had significantly higher individual modernity scores than their urban counterparts. This finding does not necessarily mean that urban Chinese tend to have a lower individual modernity level. Rather, a possible explanation arising from the analysis is that a section of the urban Chinese respondents in this study chose to use the coping mode in which they were modern in their behaviour while starting to reflect critically on certain modern values. For instance, it was evidenced that rural older people were more likely to agree with the following AM items: ‘As family is only a part of one's life, one does not need to spend too much time staying with family members’ (F=19.316, p < 0.001); ‘As long as it is not your business, you do not need to stop the couple next door when you hear them quarrelling’ (F=4.113, p < 0.05); ‘A couple that co-habits without legal marriage should not be disparaged’ (F=7.078, p < 0.01); and ‘We should be more open on the issue of sex’ (F=27.187, p < 0.001). People who lived in a relatively traditional society might feel that they had spent too much time on their family, been tired of having lots of unnecessary social interactions and believed that people were too conservative in terms of sex. Therefore, they tended to anticipate certain modern changes in relation to the above-mentioned aspects. On the contrary, people who had already lived in a modern society were in the face of a diminishment of a traditional culture that had emphasised the importance of family life, and the negative effects of too much openness about sex. Thus, they might then start to reflect critically on (a) whether all they wanted from the process of societal modernisation was the loosening of family ties, the disconnection from neighbours or friends, and the lowering of moral standards; and (b) what further modifications should be made in the future. Such reasons might explain why urban elders were more likely to employ a coping mode rather than an accommodation mode than their rural counterparts in response to societal modernisation. In fact, the role of older people in influencing the evolution of modern culture and in resisting the potential negative impacts of modernisation based on their experiences of a previous traditional setting has been acknowledged by Coe and Palmer (Reference Coe and Palmer2009). According to them, older people guided the evolution of the modernisation process by affecting social learning and by holding the wisdom about the conduct and management of social behaviours (Coe and Palmer Reference Coe and Palmer2009).
Despite the fact that most of the hypotheses were supported in the present study, working status was not proven to be a potent influencing factor on older people's individual modernity modes. A possible explanation for this is that as both those who were still employed and those who were still busy with farming matters were counted as in the same category of ‘still working’, these two different groups of participants could not be compared and this might further lead to a biased result. In addition, although gender was also confirmed as a factor that influences older people's modes of individual modernity, it was revealed that males, rather than females, are more likely to accommodate the process of modernisation. This was the reverse of evidence from a previous study, which showed that Chinese females are more modern than Chinese males (Zhang, Zheng and Wang Reference Zhang, Zheng and Wang2003). In fact, their study targeted young people, whereas this study focused on the older population. Chances are that the traditional teachings of the ‘Three Obediences and Four Virtues for Women’ (Confucian ethics) make older females adhere more to traditions and get accustomed to clinging to their husbands. The three obediences for a women were to obey her father as a daughter; her husband as a wife; and her sons in widowhood. The four traditional virtues refer to morality, proper speech, modest manner/appearance and diligent work (Taylor and Choy Reference Taylor and Choy2004). Thus, they are more likely to use the withdrawal and resistance modes of individual modernity than their male counterparts. However, as equal rights for males and females have been emphasised more in contemporary China and younger females have equal chances to gain access to formal education and then the labour market, it is no surprise to see that younger females are becoming at least equally as modern as, if not more modern than, their male counterparts in terms of attitudes and behaviours.
We have to admit that our findings here present only a preliminary attempt to look at individual modernity in a sample of older people from one province in central China. Owing to time and financial constraints, the present study has adopted a cross-sectional design. Thus, the conclusions about causal relationships among the variables are not warranted. Future research with a longitudinal design to examine the adaptation of older people in the face of societal modernisation is greatly needed. In addition, as reliability levels for the sub-scales and the model fit are only acceptable rather than extremely satisfactory, further efforts to revise and validate the individual modernity scale in older people are desirous.
Conclusions and implications
This study does not intend to argue that those who reported to have aligned with the accommodation or coping mode are superior to those who manifested signs and indications of withdrawal or resistance to changes in the process of modernisation. On the other hand, the modernity gap between individuals from different socio-economic backgrounds is commonly noted as a potential barrier for positive participation in the information society in the social exclusion theory (Steyn and Johanson Reference Steyn and Johanson2011). Previous research analysis also showed that older people in accommodation and coping modes were more likely to enjoy better self-image and life satisfaction (Bai Reference Bai2011). Thus, the following aspects can be directions for considering appropriate strategies and interventions to address issues and challenges faced by older people in view of the differences in adaptation in the context of rapid modernisation in China.
First of all, at the societal level, governments at all levels should allow for options and opportunities for older people to align themselves with the modernisation process by removing the barriers that may hinder their integration and empowerment efforts. A one-size-fits-all social and economic development approach by governments would just further marginalise and exclude the ageing individuals from such a process. As mentioned earlier, China is going through a ‘compressed’ mode of the societal modernisation process which has further given birth to the strategy of putting urban areas as the priority (Sun Reference Sun2003). Owing to such long-lasting urban–rural dichotomised and imbalanced development in Chinese society (Sun Reference Sun2003), urban older people are better equipped to tackle the negative impacts of societal modernisation. For many of those living in urban areas, having more access to education and financial benefits from the social security system gives them a better chance of accommodating or actively coping with modernisation. Rural older people do not have the same access to institutional support as their urban counterparts (Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011). On one hand, the migration of their adult children to work in urban areas has watered down their children's adherence to the filial obligations to care for their parents while, on the other hand, rural older people have fewer welfare rights and access than their urban counterparts. They are often left alone to fend for themselves (Wang Reference Wang2007). Without sufficient resources, rural older people have gradually become a group who could be forced to withdraw from, or even resist against, societal modernisation, and they appear to have suffered from a loss of respect and reverence far more than their urban counterparts (Chow and Bai Reference Chow and Bai2011). Although confronted by more intense changes due to modernisation, urban older people with more resources can better adapt to the process, thus reaping the harvest of social development. The government thus should pay more attention to the importance of equality of resource allocation. There should be immediate attempts to ensure that older people with varying characteristics are not be left behind and can age with security and dignity. Providing adequate financial resources to alleviate the gap between the rich and the poor, the urban and the rural, and the elites and the general public is one direction that social policy could take. Housing resources and environmental improvements to enhance living conditions of under-privileged older adults could be implemented at all levels, ranging from neighbourhood, municipal, provincial to national domains.
The findings of this study indicate that not everyone reacts to modernisation in the same way and modernisation is a dynamic, axial and multi-dimensional process rather than a linearly progressive notion of social changes. The older Chinese in this study have illustrated the fact that modernisation and tradition are not necessarily the two opposite ends of a continuum. Coe and Palmer (Reference Coe and Palmer2009) still acknowledged the contribution made by elders in influencing the evolution of modern values with their traditional resistance to some of the potentially negative impacts of societal modernisation. For this reason, one should expect varied and complex responses to social transformations. It is important to respect older adults' different responses in the face of modernisation. Research findings have shown that person–environment misfits may result in psychological, physical and behavioural strains which will harm the health of older people (Wahl Reference Wahl, Wahl, Brenner, Mollenkopf and Rothenbacher2006). More humane social and economic policies and programmes should be developed and introduced to address the differential needs of older people in the context of societal modernisation. For instance, Chow and Bai (Reference Chow and Bai2011), by conducting in-depth interviews with Chinese older adults, found that some of the Chinese older participants were very eager to learn new things so as to catch up with the pace of technology advancement, but sometimes they found it too difficult to handle. Training and education packages specifically designed to tailor the learning styles, pace of learning and levels of interest of older people should be developed. Meeting their learning needs is a key approach in keeping them engaged with mainstream society, enhancing their self-esteem and promoting empowerment in a technocratic society. In contrast, some older adults commented during the interview that although they were able to afford mobile phones and computers with internet access, they did not have any interest in using these products as they preferred using hand-written letters to convey their greetings to old friend, and they expected their children to visit them in person more often rather than just chatting via the internet. Such needs should be respected and fulfilled accordingly. Despite the seemingly inevitable trend of technological development, this is the only approach with which the struggles of older people could be eased in the complex process of societal modernisation.
This study has further illustrated the importance of a better understanding of the dynamic interactions between older people and the changing environment in which they are ageing. While the modernisation and ageing theory provides an appealing perspective and explains how health technology, scientific technology, urbanisation, literacy and mass education have made older people vulnerable during the process of social transformation (Cowgill and Holmes Reference Cowgill, Cowgill and Holmes1972), it overlooks the potential of older people to work out an alignment to the modern environment with the assistance and support of family, community and governments at all levels. The Confucian doctrine of ‘filial piety’ continues to be upheld in China and some other Asian societies, such as Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and Korea. For these countries, the existing development strategy of favouring the young and those in urban areas needs to be redressed, as older people like the ones in this study are faced with different levels of alignment in the modernisation process. Social policy mechanisms should be developed to ensure that the voices and perspectives of older people are seriously considered and that they may have their share in the prosperity. Participation of older people in their families, communities and societies should be encouraged and respected by the wider society so as to afford them the possibility of contributing their experiences and wisdom in the context of modernisation.
Acknowledgements
The author extends her gratitude to Professor Yang Kuo-shu and Professor C. Montgomery Broaded for providing the relevant scales on individual modernity that they developed in previous studies. Special thanks also go to Professor Daniel Lai, Professor Nelson Chow and the two anonymous reviewers who have offered me constructive suggestions for improving this manuscript. No conflicts of interest have been declared by the author.
