Family factors and their influence toward the elderly left behind in Thailand

Abstract

This quantitative study is aimed to find located which family factors affect the elderly left behind in Thailand. The researcher used secondary data from the Project of Well-being Situation among Thai families conducted by the Thai Family Studies Association and the National Institute for Child and Family Development, Mahidol University, collected in 2011 that included 1,565 families. The data analysis was performed through the use of descriptive statistics which was composed of frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, cross tabulations, and Spearman - rank correlation coefficient. The result revealed the factor that positively related to elderly being left behind was the level of violence in family (r = 0.200) was statistically significant at a level of 0.01. The negative factors related to being left behind of the elderly were the level of family relationship (r = -0.076) was statistically significant at a level of 0.01; the level of communication in family (r = -0.052) was statistically significant at a level of 0.05, and the number of closed neighbors (r = -0.055) was statistically significant at a level of 0.05.