School of Public Health, Wuhan University, 115# Donghu Road, Wuhan, 430071, China.
Global Health Institute, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
BMC Public Health. 2023 May 30;23(1):1017. doi: 10.1186/s12889-023-15837-y.
This study aimed to assess the effect of informal social support (ISS) on the health of Chinese older adults, identify channels of the association between the two, and assess the magnitude of this effect in different groups of older adults.
Based on the data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS), we first used both the Quality of Well-Being (QWB) scale and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method to construct the QWB score that can objectively measure the health status of Chinese older adults. Next, we conducted an econometric equation controlling for various high-dimensional fixed effects, estimated the effects using the Tobit model, and used various robustness check strategies and the propensity score matching (PSM) method to ensure reliability and deal with the potential endogeneity, respectively. Finally, we performed staging and grouping regression for mechanism and heterogeneity analysis.
The mean QWB score of Chinese older adults was 0.778. ISS has a significant positive effect on the health of older adults (P < 0.001), and there were similar patterns of findings for the effects of SE (P < 0.001), PSS (P < 0.001), and ES (P < 0.001). Additionally, the health promotion effect is higher in older adults who are male (P < 0.001), under the age of 80 (P < 0.001), with agricultural household registration (P < 0.001), or with high income (P < 0.001) than in the control group.
ISS, including SE, PSS, and ES, had significant promotion effects on the health of older adults, especially on those who are male, under the age of 80, with agricultural household registration, or with high income. Meanwhile, these effects could be reflected through two channels: alleviating loneliness and improving the positive emotional status of older adults.
本研究旨在评估非正式社会支持（ISS）对中国老年人健康的影响，确定两者之间关联的途径，并评估这种影响在不同老年人群体中的程度。
基于 2018 年中国纵向老龄化社会调查（CLASS）的数据，我们首先使用福利质量（QWB）量表和层次分析法（AHP）方法构建了可客观衡量中国老年人健康状况的 QWB 评分。然后，我们通过控制各种高维固定效应进行计量方程估计，使用 Tobit 模型进行估计，并使用各种稳健性检查策略和倾向评分匹配（PSM）方法分别确保可靠性和处理潜在的内生性。最后，我们进行阶段和分组回归以进行机制和异质性分析。
中国老年人的平均 QWB 评分为 0.778。ISS 对老年人的健康有显著的正向影响（P<0.001），SE（P<0.001）、PSS（P<0.001）和 ES（P<0.001）也存在类似的发现模式。此外，ISS 的健康促进作用在男性（P<0.001）、年龄在 80 岁以下（P<0.001）、农业户籍（P<0.001）或高收入（P<0.001）的老年人中更高。
ISS，包括 SE、PSS 和 ES，对老年人的健康有显著的促进作用，特别是对男性、年龄在 80 岁以下、农业户籍或高收入的老年人。同时，这些影响可以通过两种途径来体现：缓解孤独感和改善老年人的积极情绪状态。
