School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-sen University, Shenzhen, China.
Department of Economics and Management, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Karlsruhe, Germany.
Aging Ment Health. 2023 Jan;27(1):54-69. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2021.2019190. Epub 2022 Feb 8.
Mental health for older people has become a major social concern. Literature has shown that older people, especially when they become empty nesters-when a parent lives alone or lives with his/her spouse after the youngest child leaves home-may start to develop various mental health problems due to reduced contacts with their children.
Using fixed-effects, multivariate regression with a difference-in-differences approach and propensity score matching, this paper examines the relationship between being an empty nester and mental health among older people in China, and the moderating effects of social contact and contact with one's children in terms of mental health. Our data come from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study of 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2018.
We found that, in the short term, the mental health of older people may not be affected after they became empty nesters. But in the longer term, if they did not have regular contact with their children, their mental health would deteriorate with time. Social contact, especially cognitive activities, was beneficial to the mental health of the older empty nesters. We also found that for older empty nesters with disabilities, frequent social contact and contact with their children were more important.
We urge the government to promote community-based social activities for older people, especially for those with functional limitations.
老年人的心理健康已成为一个重大的社会关注点。文献表明，老年人，尤其是当他们成为空巢老人时——当父母中一方或双方在最小的孩子离开家后独自生活或与配偶一起生活时——由于与子女的接触减少，可能开始出现各种心理健康问题。
未加标签：本文采用固定效应、差分法的多元回归和倾向评分匹配，考察了在中国空巢老人与心理健康之间的关系，以及社会联系和与子女的联系对心理健康的调节作用。我们的数据来自于 2011 年、2013 年、2015 年和 2018 年的中国健康与退休纵向研究。
结果：我们发现，在短期内，老年人成为空巢老人后，他们的心理健康可能不会受到影响。但从长期来看，如果他们没有与子女定期接触，他们的心理健康会随着时间的推移而恶化。社会联系，特别是认知活动，对空巢老人的心理健康有益。我们还发现，对于有残疾的空巢老人来说，频繁的社会联系和与子女的联系更为重要。
结论：我们敦促政府为老年人，特别是那些有功能限制的老年人，推广以社区为基础的社会活动。
