College of Communication and Art Design, University of Shanghai for Science and Technology, No.516, Jungong Road, Shanghai, 200093, China.
College of Architecture & Environment, Sichuan University, No.24 First South Section First Ring Road, Chengdu, 610065, China.
BMC Geriatr. 2020 Sep 29;20(1):372. doi: 10.1186/s12877-020-01773-8.
Although social network is a known determinant of the elderly's well-being, it is not clear, in urban-rural and age-comparison, what its structural characteristics are and how it works for well-being. The research aims to discuss the features of the elderly's social network and the social network efficacies on the well-being of older adults in China's urban and rural areas as well as revealing the urban-rural disparities among the elderly of different age groups.
In this study, descriptive statistical analysis and structural equation Modeling (SEM) were used to make a group comparison between the urban and rural elderly of different age groups. All data are quoted from 2014 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS). The survey adopted the multi-stage probability sampling method, targeting Chinese senior citizens aged 60 and above, the ultimate samples totaled 11,511.
The social network of the elderly in China feature a "reverse structure" in age sequences: with ageing, family network of the elderly expand while their friend network shrink; also, the expansion scale of the rural elderly's family network is significantly larger than that of the city's while the shrinkage scale of their friend network is smaller compared with its urban counterpart. The effect of family network on the rural elderly's well-being shows a remarkable increase with age. However, there is no noticeable change in urban elderly groups of different ages.
The social network characteristics of the Chinese elderly are different between different age stages. Namely, the family network and the friend network have the "reverse structure " in age sequences. Meanwhile, the family network and the friend network have different efficacies on the well-being of the elderly in China, and the differences between urban and rural areas are even more obvious. For rural elderly, family network has very important effects on their well-being. Moreover, With the increase of age, family network's efficacies increase gradually. For urban elderly, comparatively, family network is just as important as friend network.
尽管社交网络是老年人幸福感的已知决定因素，但在城乡和年龄比较中，其结构特征是什么以及它如何对幸福感产生影响尚不清楚。本研究旨在讨论中国城乡老年人社会网络的特点以及社会网络对老年人幸福感的影响，并揭示不同年龄组城乡老年人之间的差异。
本研究采用描述性统计分析和结构方程模型（SEM）对不同年龄组的城乡老年人进行了比较。所有数据均来自 2014 年中国纵向老龄化社会调查（CLASS）。该调查采用多阶段概率抽样方法，针对中国 60 岁及以上的老年人，最终样本总数为 11511 人。
中国老年人的社会网络在年龄序列上呈现出“反向结构”：随着年龄的增长，老年人的家庭网络扩大，而朋友网络缩小；此外，农村老年人家庭网络的扩张规模明显大于城市，而其朋友网络的缩小规模则小于城市。家庭网络对农村老年人幸福感的影响随着年龄的增长而显著增加。然而，不同年龄组的城市老年人群体没有明显变化。
中国老年人的社会网络特征在不同年龄阶段有所不同。即家庭网络和朋友网络在年龄序列上呈现出“反向结构”。同时，家庭网络和朋友网络对中国老年人的幸福感有不同的影响，城乡差异更为明显。对于农村老年人来说，家庭网络对他们的幸福感有非常重要的影响。此外，随着年龄的增长，家庭网络的效果逐渐增加。对于城市老年人来说，家庭网络和朋友网络同样重要。
