Abstract: The current academic research on the phenomenon of "lonely death" of empty nesters in China is still in its infancy, and most of them are descriptive analysis for the lack of a convincing theoretical framework. Based on structuration theory, this paper constructs an analytical framework of "individual actions-social structures-structural duality" to explore the formation mechanism of the phenomenon of "lonely death" of the empty nesters in China. The study shows that this phenomenon is the result of individual actions (the routinized and localized actions of the emptynesters), social structures (lack of resources and rules) and their interactions. Therefore, the countermeasures of the phenomenon need to start from the aspects of individual actions, social structures and their interactions.