School of Economics and Statistics, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 8;20(4):2946. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20042946.
With the aging of China's population and the expansion of household debt, the health of the elderly has become an important social issue. Based on the 2018 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) database, we explored the impact of household debt on the health of older adults and the mechanism of transmission. The Oprobit and IV-Oprobit models were employed for our analysis. Results: (1) Household debt had a significant negative impact on both the physical and mental health of older adults. (2) Female older adults were more sensitive to the impact of household debt. Additionally, a higher education level led to an increasing impact of debt on mental health, but physical health was only affected in the low-education group. (3) The impact of household debt had an inverted U-shape relationship with household income, indicating that, as household income increases, the impact on health level first rises and then reduces after peaking at a middling level of income. (4) According to the mechanism analysis, household debt affects the health of the elderly by causing them to return to work and reducing their medical expenditures. Considering the above conclusions, we put forward some policy implications to alleviate the health problems of the elderly.
随着中国人口老龄化和家庭债务的扩大，老年人的健康已成为一个重要的社会问题。本研究基于 2018 年中国家庭追踪调查（CFPS）数据库，探讨了家庭债务对老年人健康的影响及其作用机制。采用 Oprobit 和 IV-Oprobit 模型进行分析。结果表明：（1）家庭债务对老年人的身心健康均有显著的负向影响；（2）女性老年人对家庭债务的敏感性更高，且受教育程度越高，债务对心理健康的影响越大，而仅在低教育群体中对身体健康有影响；（3）家庭债务对健康水平的影响呈倒 U 型关系，即随着家庭收入的增加，影响先上升后下降，在中等收入水平达到峰值；（4）根据机制分析，家庭债务通过促使老年人重返工作岗位和减少医疗支出对老年人的健康产生影响。基于以上结论，提出了一些缓解老年人健康问题的政策建议。
