School of Hospital Economics and Management, Anhui University of Chinese Medicine, Hefei, China.
Key Laboratory of Data Science and Innovative Development of Chinese Medicine in Anhui Province Philosophy and Social, Hefei, China.
PLoS One. 2024 Apr 18;19(4):e0299986. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0299986. eCollection 2024.
Today, population aging is the main trend of population development. Home-based care is mainly adopted in Chinese society, and scholars have paid ample attention to the effect of intergenerational support on the mental health of older people. However, research conclusions differ. This study uses data from the 2018 China Health and Pension Tracking Survey (CHARLS), which we analyzed with STATA software to construct least squares regression and two-stage least squares regression models. The regression model included 6,647 respondents to investigate the mental health status of older people based on depression status. Intergenerational support was defined as economic support, emotional support, and daily care provided by the children of older people. We studied the impact of three aspects of intergenerational support on the mental health of the elderly. We performed a robustness test using the variable replacement and propensity score matching methods, and analyzed age, gender, and urban-rural heterogeneity. The results showed that economic support had no significant impact on the mental health of older people, while emotional support and daily care had a positive effect. The heterogeneity results indicated that the relationship between intergenerational support and mental health of older people differed significantly based on age, gender, and urban and rural areas. Therefore, children should raise their awareness of supporting their parents, pay attention to their parents' mental health, and provide emotional support and daily care. Furthermore, community work improves family relations, creates a good social environment, and encourages young people to respect and be filial to older people. The government should improve the medical security system and old-age service system, and provide policy support to help the mental health of older people.
如今，人口老龄化是人口发展的主要趋势。中国社会主要采用居家养老模式，学者们也充分关注了代际支持对老年人心理健康的影响。然而，研究结论存在差异。本研究使用了 2018 年中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）的数据，我们使用 STATA 软件对数据进行了最小二乘法回归和两阶段最小二乘法回归分析。回归模型包含了 6647 名受访者，根据抑郁状况调查了老年人的心理健康状况。代际支持被定义为老年人的子女提供的经济支持、情感支持和日常护理。我们研究了代际支持的三个方面对老年人心理健康的影响。我们使用变量替换和倾向得分匹配方法进行了稳健性检验，并分析了年龄、性别和城乡异质性。结果表明，经济支持对老年人的心理健康没有显著影响，而情感支持和日常护理则有积极影响。异质性结果表明，代际支持与老年人心理健康之间的关系在年龄、性别和城乡地区存在显著差异。因此，子女应该提高支持父母的意识，关注父母的心理健康，提供情感支持和日常护理。此外，社区工作可以改善家庭关系，创造良好的社会环境，鼓励年轻人尊重和孝顺老年人。政府应完善医疗保障体系和养老服务体系，提供政策支持，帮助老年人保持心理健康。
