Shidu Parents
The Shape of Things to Come?
I was born in 1970 and in my lifetime, I have witnessed something truly remarkable… the rise of China. It is hard to imagine now but China was a very poor country and only a decade previously had suffered one of the greatest famines known to humanity. This was caused through a mixture of natural disasters and mismanagement.
Following economic reforms and opening to the global economy initiated in the late 1970s, the Chinese nation started to rise. It shifted from a centrally planned communist system to a more market-oriented one. This led to rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, and integration into the world economy. Many years of economic growth lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty. China is now the world's second-largest economy and a major manufacturer. Its economic power has increased its global influence on a scale that would have been unimaginable in 1970.
Concerns Over the Population
Like any great change there are unintended consequences. Concerns over population growth resulted in the One-Child Policy. Started in 1979, its goal was to curb this growth, as it was believed it could hinder economic development and strain resources. The policy restricted urban families to one child. There were some exceptions for rural families and ethnic minorities. This policy was enforced through a mixture of incentives and penalties. The policy officially ended in 2016 and was later replaced by a two-child limit, and then a three-child limit.
Shidu Parents
This has meant that many families only have one child. If their onlychild dies they effectively become childless and they are described as ‘Shidu Parents’. In the article ‘Lived Experience is not an Olympic Competition (Yet)’ I raised the idea that in our own personal suffering we should try not to let it cast a shadow over how we view others experiences. I recently read a scientific paper about the Shidu and have been forced to reflect on the hopelessness of their scenario. In terms of lived experience these people suffering would find few equals. Not only do they lose their only child, but their whole community is losing its children over time. It feels like this has an awful dystopian vision being played out in the present. These people’s sadness is being amplified as they age. One child, no siblings and grandparents with only one grandchild or if you are incredibly unlucky a lost child and no grandchildren.
This unique group of people are raising more interest in Chinese society beyond recognition of the tragedy that has befallen them. It is now understood that they have no family supporting them into old age. As a result they will require access to more support which has to be supplied by the Chinese state.
Research into Shidu
I have written about Prolonged Grief Disorder in this article (When Grief Lingers: Exploring PGD, CBT, and the Search for Understanding). It can be often diagnosed in parents who have lost a child. Unsurprisingly research into PGD has been conducted with the Shidu Parents in China. The scientific paper ‘Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder and its symptoms in Chinese parents who lost their only child: A systematic review and meta-analysis’ is a meta-review of the literature on this subject. The authors have attempted to review everything written on the topic and are looking for themes common in these papers. I have inclued a summary of the paper at the end of this aricle.
A unique population?
The Shidu parents are interesting as they represent a large group of people who have all lost their only child. A casual observer may think that Chinese society is to be viewed as being very different from Western society. In many ways this is true, it is hard to imagine our governments would impose and enforce a one child only policy. That said we do know that in many countries the population is declining with demographic time bombs being forecast for many countries.
Industrialisation and urbanisation appear to have the greatest effect on lowering the birth rate of countries. Modern China urbanised very quickly and unwittingly decided to compound this effect with the One Child Policy. The country may have been the first to deal with a rapid increased population of childless couples and the consequences for the broader community.
Emotions and Reality
The Shidu Parents on an emotional level is a very sad story but in practical terms for societies to keep its current population a replacement rate of 2.1 children per female is needed. It is not something we like to dwell on, but our children will be the ones who looking after us in the future. Shidu parents may well be a Chinese phenomenon today but could well be giving the rest of the world an insight into what may happen to many countries in the not so distant future.
Whether it is due to economics, cultural changes, government policy or a combination of all these factors we are having less children. It will affect us as a collective moving forward. Perhaps more importantly on an individual level whether it is our own or other people’s children, they do make our world a better place. Our investment in them and their lives will ultimately prove to be one of the few great things we attempt in our lives. I hope we do not collectively lose sight of this.
Paper Review
I have included a summary of the research paper created by Gemini Advance AI. These AI tools are very useful to summarise documents and reports from unfamiliar topics particularly for people with non-academic backgrounds. This is similar process I used in the article How a Landmark Study Sheds Light on Parental Grief.
Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder and its symptoms in Chinese parents who lost their only child: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
This study, published in Frontiers in Public Health, looked at how common a condition called prolonged grief disorder (PGD) and its symptoms are among parents in China who have lost their only child. These parents are known as "Shidu" parents, and their situation is particularly difficult due to China's history with the one-child policy and cultural traditions.
What is this study about?
Losing a child is incredibly hard for any parent. In China, for "Shidu" parents, this loss can be even more complex due to cultural expectations around family lineage and relying on children for support in old age. Sometimes, the intense sadness and grief after a loss don't ease over time and can become a condition called prolonged grief disorder (PGD). This study wanted to understand how many "Shidu" parents experience PGD and if certain parents are more likely to develop it.
How did the researchers conduct this study?
The researchers didn't do new surveys themselves. Instead, they gathered and analyzed results from existing studies that had already surveyed Chinese "Shidu" parents about their grief. They searched through research databases to find relevant studies and then combined the data from these studies using a statistical method called meta-analysis. They also checked the quality of the studies they included to make sure the findings were reliable.
What were the key findings?
After analysing the data from seven studies, the researchers found:
A significant number of "Shidu" parents experience symptoms of prolonged grief (about 75%).Approximately one in five "Shidu" parents (20.9%) met the criteria for prolonged grief disorder.Certain groups of parents were at higher risk for PGD:Mothers were more likely to experience PGD than fathers.Parents who held religious beliefs had a higher risk of PGD.
Parents whose child died in an accident seemed to experience more severe grief symptoms compared to those whose child died from an illness.Parents with PGD were more likely to have lost an older child and to have experienced the loss more recently.
Why is this research important?
This study confirms that prolonged grief is a major issue for Chinese "Shidu" parents. The findings are important because they can help guide where support and counseling services are most needed. Knowing which parents are at higher risk (like mothers, those with religious beliefs, or those whose child died in an accident) allows for more targeted help. The high rates of grief and PGD also highlight the urgent need for more accessible and effective grief support services for this vulnerable population in China.
Reference:
Yuan, M. D., Wang, Z. Q., Fei, L., & Zhong, B. L. (2022). Prevalence of prolonged grief disorder and its symptoms in Chinese parents who lost their only child: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in public health, 10, 1016160. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1016160