“Growth of racial and ethnic minorities in US nursing homes driven by demographics and possible disparities in options,” in Health Affairs, highlights an interesting trend in the USA: between 1999-2008, the number of elderly Hispanics/Asians in US nursing homes grew by ~55%, Blacks grew by 10%, but Whites declined by 10%.
Examining this trend, McKnight’s suggests the surprising increase in minorities could “reflect a cultural shift among immigrant families.” In Hispanic & Asian cultures it is often a huge stigma to send an aging parent to a nursing home, but the stigma “goes away” when an immigrant moves to the United States.
It’s interesting how, among diaspora, cultural norms change significantly. This was also noted in our recent East Africa webinar: those who move to the city often experience significant changes in how they think and feel, and become less attached to the family they left “upcountry.”
In Asia, one common thing I found was: the younger, Westernized children tended to adopt Christianity and move away from Buddhism, while the older parents felt estranged from their children, believed no one would care for them in their old age or say the prayers for them once they were dead, no one would care for them in the afterlife, and thus clung to their Buddhism more than ever. A relational divide was created by the coupling of youth+Western+Christianity.
This divide is an important issue to address, because it prevents the Gospel from flowing naturally over relational lines. In this scenario the Gospel becomes coupled with a culture and people are less likely to perceive its truth. It’s also important to address this issue as lifespans are increasing in many places, but decisions for or against the Gospel are still most often made early on.
Part of Christian discipleship needs to be about contextualization… but also about relating to and honoring our parents and elders.
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