Session 7

Family Caregiving, Kinship, and Intergenerational Relations

P62  Feasibility and Acceptability of a VR-Based Nature Exposure Intervention on Family Resilience of Caregivers of Children with Autism

*Huitin Zhang¹, Sijia Guo¹, He Bu²

¹College of Public Administration and Humanities, Dalian Maritime University, Liaoning, China; ²School of Social and Public Administration, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, China

Abstract

Backgrounds: Caregivers of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) experience a range of adversities and challenges. VR-based interventions provide a feasible avenue for caregivers to participate in, and nature exposure interventions are conducive to promoting caregivers' positive emotions and alleviating caregiving burden. Therefore, this pilot study aims to evaluate the acceptability and preliminary effectiveness of a VR-based nature exposure intervention for caregivers of children with ASD.

Methods: We designed a 7-session VR-based nature exposure intervention addressing: (1) enhancing caregivers’ nature connectedness; (2) decreasing caregivers’ negative emotions and increasing their positive emotion; (3) decreasing caregivers’ caregiving burden. 28 caregivers of children with ASD participated in a single-group, pre/post-intervention design. Outcomes include negative and positive emotion, connectedness to nature, and caregiving burden.

Results: Paired-samples and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to examine changes at baseline (T1), immediately post-intervention (T2), and one-month follow-up (T3). Immediately after the 7-session intervention, no significant differences were found in caregiver burden (ZBI) or positive affect (PANAS), while negative affect (PANAS) showed a marginally significant reduction. At one-month follow-up, caregiver burden was significantly decreased with a large effect size, and connectedness to nature (CNS) was significantly increased with a medium effect. The temporary reduction in negative emotions was not sustained at follow-up, and positive emotions remained stable across all time points.

Discussion: Overall, the intervention demonstrated delayed but robust benefits for reducing caregiver burden and enhancing nature connectedness among ASD caregivers.

P63  The Psychosocial Adaptation of Rural Left-Behind Husbands and Digital Social Work Intervention

*Xueyan Zhao¹, Xiaofang Jin²

¹School of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

 Abstract

Background and Purpose: Against the backdrop of deepening urbanization in China, labor migration patterns in rural households have become increasingly diversified, giving rise to a growing group of “left-behind husbands” characterized by the pattern of “wives migrating for work while husbands remain at home”.

Methods: This paper adopts a qualitative research method, conducting in-depth interviews with 13 rural left-behind husbands, and uses thematic analysis to code and analyze the data.

Results: The study finds that left-behind husbands are not a homogeneous group. Based on differences in their motivations for staying and subjective perceptions, they can be divided into three typical types: the family benefit maximization type, the urban squeeze type, and the hometown attachment type. Drawing on social exchange theory and symbolic interactionism, the analysis shows that the three types correspond to distinct psychological states. Husbands of the family benefit maximization type interpret their staying as intergenerational investment and family dedication, and exhibit an optimistic mindset through meaning sublimation. Those of the hometown attachment type oscillate between attachment to rural life and regret over the emotional absence of their spouses, yet gain spatial compensation by embedding themselves in acquaintance networks, showing contradictory but sustainable life resilience. The urban squeeze type falls into pessimism due to employment exclusion and role deprivation, yet still upholds family responsibilities with limited agency.

Conclusions and Implications: This paper argues that the value of left-behind husbands should be redefined as guardians of family foundations and cornerstones of intergenerational support. It is necessary to respect their existing resources and provide differentiated social support and empowerment services for different types, so as to enhance family resilience. This study provides a new perspective for understanding male experiences under the transformation of rural household division of labor, and also offers empirical references for the localized pathways of family social work intervention.

P64  Wounds Passed Across Generations: Maternal Economic Abuse Victimization and Financial Socialization of Chinese Early Adolescents

*Xiaomin Li¹

¹Department of Applied Social Sciences, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

 Abstract

Background and Purpose: Economic abuse—defined as behaviors that control, exploit, or sabotage a partner’s access to financial resources—is increasingly recognized as a pervasive yet understudied form of intimate partner violence (IPV) (Postmus et al., 2020; Stylianou, 2018). Unlike financial hardship in general, economic abuse is purposeful, coercive, and rooted in power inequality. However, limited research has examined how maternal economic abuse may shape parenting practices that influence children’s future development. Financial socialization—the process through which parents teach children about money through modeling, communication, and experiential learning—is a key pathway through which parents prepare the next generation with capabilities to navigate complex financial world (Gudmunson & Danes, 2011; LeBaron & Kelley, 2021). Drawing on family systems theory and family financial socialization theory, this study investigates whether maternal economic abuse victimization is associated with maternal financial socialization among early adolescents. We further examine whether maternal financial well-being and relational power mediate this association and whether these pathways differ by adolescents’ gender.

Methods: This study used cross-sectional survey data from 500 Chinese mothers of early adolescents aged 10–14 years recruited from multiple cities in China. Participants reported their economic abuse victimization (α = .90 using the Chinese Scale of Economic Abuse),

• financial well-being (α = .83 using the five-item brief version of Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Financial Well-Being Scale),

• relational power within the marital relationship (α = .87 using four items from the Perceived Power Imbalance Scale),

• financial socialization with their early adolescent children (α = .89 using the nine-item version of the Parent Financial Socialization Scale).

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was conducted in Mplus to examine the hypothesized pathways. Bootstrapping with 5,000 resamples estimated the indirect effects of maternal financial well-being and relational power, and latent moderated structural equation modeling tested the moderating role of adolescents’ gender.

Results: Maternal economic abuse victimization was significantly associated with lower maternal financial well-being (β = −.50, p < .001), diminished relational power (β = −.60, p < .001), and reduced quality of maternal financial socialization practices (β = −.17, p = .038). Bootstrapped indirect association analyses indicated that maternal financial well-being (β = −.08, 95% CI [−.17, −.002]) and relational power (β = −.16, 95% CI [−.24, −.08]) significantly mediated the association between economic abuse victimization and financial socialization. Gender moderation analyses were not statistically significant, suggesting that these intergenerational links operate similarly for daughters and sons.

Conclusions and Implications: These findings demonstrate that economic abuse against mothers extends beyond the marital relationship and carries intergenerational consequences by constraining mothers’ capacity to socialize their children financially. For social work research and practice, the findings highlight the importance of addressing economic abuse as a family-level issue. Interventions should incorporate trauma-informed financial capability building, empowerment of women’s financial autonomy, and parenting support, while community and school-based initiatives may strengthen adolescents’ financial literacy and resilience in families affected by economic abuse.

P65  Research on the Mechanism of the Impact of Widowhood on Intergenerational Support from the Perspective of AI Empowerment and Intelligent Social Work Intervention

*Xue Zhao¹

¹School of Philosophy and Social Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, China

Abstract

This study deeply integrates AI technology with professional social work methods to explore innovative paths for the "demand-intervention-evaluation" full process of elderly social work in the digital age. Relying on the third wave panel data of the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), the study systematically analyzes the impact mechanism of widowhood on intergenerational support from children for the elderly, providing empirical support for the construction of an AI-enabled smart elderly care service system. Empirical findings show that widowhood significantly weakens the elderly's ability to obtain economic support, daily care, and emotional communication from their children; its effect is achieved through a dual mediation mechanism of psychology and behavior - widowhood intensifies depressive emotions and reduces social participation, thereby weakening intergenerational connections. The study identifies the number of children and economic income as key protective factors to mitigate the shock and reveals the heterogeneous impact of care support on the elderly, highlighting the importance of personalized intervention. Based on the above findings, the study constructs an AI-enabled social work closed-loop system of "data-driven - algorithm identification - intelligent intervention - effect evaluation". In the demand identification stage, machine learning algorithms are used to dynamically profile and provide early warnings of the depression risk and social isolation degree of widowed elderly; in the intervention implementation stage, an intelligent companion system with emotional computing capabilities is developed, combined with a community smart platform to achieve precise promotion of psychological counseling, resource connection, and intergenerational relationships; in the effect evaluation stage, the intervention process is tracked through big data and service strategies are optimized in real time. The study ultimately proposes a three-in-one system of "micro-intelligent companionship - meso-digital networks - macro-smart governance", and emphasizes the importance of cultivating compound social workers with digital literacy. This study organically unifies the technological tension of AI with the humanistic warmth of social work, providing an operational intelligent solution for the healthy aging strategy.