Studying living arrangements of the elderly: Lessons from a quasi-qualitative case study approach in Thailand

The present study explores aspects of living arrangements of the elderly in Thailand and how they relate to intergenerational support exchanges as revealed by a quasi-qualitative case study approach. The study describes some of the challenges this topic poses for measurement if surveys are used. These include difficulties in appropriately defining a household and identifying its members, treating coresidence as a continuum, taking account of the complex links to non-coresident children and kin, recognizing that similar living arrangements can have different meanings, viewing living arrangements as part of an evolving process, and recognizing the potential sensitivity of the topic to respondents. Careful and informed design of survey questionnaires can increase their ability to accurately reflect the underlying complex reality. However, there are also relevant critical issues for which surveys are not well suited. Although the study is specific to Thailand, many of the same issues are likely to arise in the research on elderly elsewhere as well.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42980/1/10823_2004_Article_233473.pd

Childspacing practices among Thai women

This thesis is an attempt to study the fertility behaviour in terms of childspacing practices among rural and urban Thai women. Birth intervals in relation to educational level, contraceptive use, current place of residence and age at the time of the survey are examined by life table techniques. Data used are a subset of the National Survey of Fertility, Mortality and Family Planning in Thailand, 1979. The analysis showed that rural women are more likely to have a subsequent birth after the third birth than are urban women. The length of the second and third birth intervals of rural women are longer than that of urban women. For the fourth and fifth birth intervals, rural women have shorter intervals. A smaller proportion of the younger cohort in both rural and urban areas have subsequent births; the younger women also have longer birth intervals than the older women. Education is shown to have a negative effects on childspacing even after controlling the age of women. More educated women are less likely to have a subsequent birth than less educated women. The longer birth interval of more educated women in both rural and urban areas is apparent at higher birth orders. Women who have ever used contraception have a smaller proportion with a subsequent birth after the second birth for urban women and after the third birth for rural women. After the second birth, The length of birth interval of ever users in the two areas are longer than those of never users

Thai views of sexuality and sexual behaviour

This study focuses on how married Thai men and women interpret sexuality and sexual behaviour in the context of their own social lives. We start by examining general views of male and female sexuality and then explore how these views relate to premarital, marital and extramarital heterosexual sex. Our study is based on qualitative data from a variety of segments of Thai society derived through the use of focus group discussions and individual focused in-depth interviews

The Future of Family Support for Thai Elderly: Views of the Populace

Future cohorts of older Thais will have fewer and more dispersed children. This will result in a continuing decline in coresidence with children that has been the lynchpin of the traditional familial system of old age support. The aim of the present study is to examine how parents who are approaching old age and their adult children view these changes and how they intend to deal them. A mixed method approach is used combining analysis of national survey data and open-ended interviews and discussions. The results reveal widespread awareness of reduced family size, increased migration, and lowered chances that aging parents live with or near adult children. Many near elderly parents express concerns about becoming a burden to their children and thus wish to maintain their independence as long as possible. At the same time, however, strong normative support persists for coresidence or proximal living arrangements and for children to be main care providers when the need eventually arises. Adult children generally proclaim willingness to live with and care for parents but it remains an open question if these intentions will be carried out especially if they have established themselves and their own conjugal families elsewhere. Thus a major disjuncture exists between norms and the changing empirical reality. Several potential solutions to meeting the challenges are assessed in the conclusions including relying on paid caregivers, using community based volunteers, and promoting economic activity of older persons.Higher Education Research Promotion and National Research University Project of Thailand, Office of the Higher Education Commission; The Amnuay-Samonsri Viravan Endowment for Thai Studies at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100345/1/JPSS article.pd

Psychological well-being Asian style: The perspective of Thai elders

Psychological well-being is animportant aspect of life quality for olderadults. Asian elders may have a distinctlydifferent perspective from Westernersconcerning the meaning of psychologicalwell-being. Using qualitative researchmethods, this study focused on the views of Thai elders. In-depth interviews and focusgroup discussions were conducted with 67 Thaipeople aged 60 and over. Transcripts werecontent analyzed resulting in theidentification of five dimensions ofwell-being: harmony, interdependence,acceptance, respect and enjoyment. Whencompared to research in the United States, someof the dimensions of psychological well-beingwere distinct while others were overlapping. Implications are discussed in relation to thedevelopment of culturally-relevant measures ofwell-being.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/42983/1/10823_2004_Article_356817.pd

Parents providing care to adult sons and daughters with HIV/AIDS in Thailand

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83333/1/sons_and_daughters.pd

Can prostitutes marry? Thai attitudes toward female sex workers

This study explores popular attitudes towards female sex workers in Thailand by examining the general public's perceptions of a prostitute's ability to marry based on focus group data. The tentative conclusion emerging from our findings that the general public believes sex workers can marry is that a relative lack of severe or lasting social stigma is an important part of a Thai context that facilitates recruitment into prostitution and permits it to persist on a widespread scale. We interpret this conclusion in terms of the broader value system in Thai society. Although our findings are implicitly comparative in nature, a lack of comparable information from other countries on how those who provide commercial sex are viewed by the general population prevents a more definitive conclusion. There is an obvious need for research on this topic as well as on how sex workers view themselves, and how this translates into actual behavior. Data set used: focus group transcripts from the project "Theinfluence of primary female partners and male peers on male extramarital sexual behavior in Thailand".prostitution marriage AIDS commercial sex Thai values Thailand

Older-age parents and the AIDS epidemic in Thailand: Changing impacts in the era of Anti-Retroviral Therapy

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83332/1/Published_ESCAP_report.pd

In the company of friends: Peer influence on Thai male extramarital sex

We explore some of the key social dynamics underlying patterns of male extramarital heterosexual behavior in Thailand. We analyze transcripts of focus group discussions and focused individual interviews conducted during 1993 and 1994 with married men and women living in both urban and rural areas of central Thailand. We discern several pathways of peer influence on extramarital commercial sex patronage that are common across our sites and interpret these peer effects in light of contemporary theories of social influence and sexual behavior.AIDS sexual behavior men thailand qualitative analysis

Migration and Intergenerational Solidarity: Evidence from Rural Thailand

http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/83330/1/UNFPA migration report.pd