Traditionally, Chinese families have been the primary provider of care for older adults, and older people expected family care. However, along with the modernization and demographic transition, ...family functions have been weakened, and state-based care has begun to play an essential role in supporting family care for older people. This paper aims to assess the care preferences of older people and the different responsibilities of individuals and communities in modern China. Using data from the 2014 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) and multinomial logistic regression modeling, we find that family care remains the cornerstone for older adults and their care preferences are associated with individual and community factors, mainly including the number of children, education level, residential area, the presence of health infrastructure and care facilities, and the values associated with filial piety of older adults.
(1) Objectives: This study aims to investigate the bidirectional relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive function among older adults in China, addressing a research gap in the context ...of developing nations. (2) Methods: A total of 3813 adults aged 60 and older participating in 2013, 2015, and 2018 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were included. A fixed-effects model and cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) was utilized. (3) Results: First, the results indicated that a significant negative correlation existed between depressive symptoms and cognitive function in older adults during the study period (β = −0.084, p < 0.001). Second, after controlling for unobserved confounding factors, the deterioration and improvement of depressive symptoms still significantly affected cognitive function (β = −0.055, p < 0.001). Third, using the cross-lagged panel model, we observed a reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms (Dep) and cognitive function (Cog) among Chinese older adults (Dep2013 → Cog2015, β = −0.025, p < 0.01; Dep2015 → Cog2018, β = −0.028, p < 0.001; Cog2013 → Dep2015, β = −0.079, p < 0.01; Cog2015 → Dep2018, β = −0.085, p < 0.01). (4) Discussion: The reciprocal relationship between depressive symptoms and cognitive functioning in older adults emphasizes the need for integrated public health policies and clinical interventions, to develop comprehensive intervention strategies that simultaneously address depressive symptoms and cognitive decline.
Abstract
Objectives
Previous studies and theories show that healthy lifestyles are affected by life chances and subjective perceptions. However, it remains unclear how older adults change between ...different lifestyle profiles as they age. We proposed the healthy lifestyle duality framework and tested it among older Chinese adults using a longitudinal design.
Methods
Data were obtained from 4 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Surveys conducted between 2008 and 2018 (N = 31,445). Latent transition analysis and hierarchical multinomial growth curve models were performed to investigate healthy lifestyle profiles and their associations with life chances and subjective perceptions over time.
Results
Four distinct healthy lifestyle profiles were identified: healthy, risky, low-standard, and mixed groups, and their changes show path dependency. Across 10 years, the proportion of the healthy group ranged from 11.16% to 16.97%. Both life chances and subjective perceptions were longitudinally associated with healthy lifestyles, with age and cohort effects observed.
Discussion
Our findings support the healthy lifestyle duality framework and reveal that life chances and subjective perceptions influence lifestyle changes over time. Public health policies and health intervention programs should adapt to the specific needs of different age groups and generations.
It is long observed that females tend to live longer than males in nearly every country. However, the underlying mechanism remains elusive. In this study, we discovered that genetic associations with ...longevity are on average stronger in females than in males through bio-demographic analyses of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) dataset of 2178 centenarians and 2299 middle-age controls of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Study (CLHLS). This discovery is replicated across North and South regions of China, and is further confirmed by North-South discovery/replication analyses of different and independent datasets of Chinese healthy aging candidate genes with CLHLS participants who are not in CLHLS GWAS, including 2972 centenarians and 1992 middle-age controls. Our polygenic risk score analyses of eight exclusive groups of sex-specific genes, analyses of sex-specific and not-sex-specific individual genes, and Genome-wide Complex Trait Analysis using all SNPs all reconfirm that genetic associations with longevity are on average stronger in females than in males. Our discovery/replication analyses are based on genetic datasets of in total 5150 centenarians and compatible middle-age controls, which comprises the worldwide largest sample of centenarians. The present study's findings may partially explain the well-known male-female health-survival paradox and suggest that genetic variants may be associated with different reactions between males and females to the same vaccine, drug treatment and/or nutritional intervention. Thus, our findings provide evidence to steer away from traditional view that “one-size-fits-all” for clinical interventions, and to consider sex differences for improving healthcare efficiency. We suggest future investigations focusing on effects of interactions between sex-specific genetic variants and environment on longevity as well as biological function.
The experiences and status of Chinese women have significantly changed over the last two to three decades, along with China’s modernization. In this article we investigate the domestic division of ...labor between the two sexes at the present-day in the context of gender equality. Based on data from three Surveys on Chinese Women’s Social Status taken in 1990, 2000 and 2010, the article focuses on important dimensions of women’s family status, such as general changes in domestic decision-making and the time women spend in domestic labor, including rural-urban differences. The article points to “equal rights for both husband and wife” (Fu Qi Ping Quan, 夫妻平权) as being the major pattern in domestic decision-making, yet men have still more rights than women. Also, women are still the main force in domestic labor, although the difference between the times spent in domestic labor by women and men respectively has gradually narrowed. There also seems to be a greater correlation between education and women’s status in rural areas than in urban areas.
Purpose>Labor participation has always been a hot topic in academic circle and a vital label in the process of China's economic and social development. Therefore, the purpose this paper is to use ...CGSS 2015 data, starting from labor participation, and make a comparably comprehensive analysis of the influencing factors of subjective well-being of females.Design/methodology/approach>By conducting probit regressions, the paper reveals the impact of labor participation and socio-demographic conditions on the subjective well-being of females in Mainland China.Findings>First, the authors’ findings turn out that urban women do have a higher level of women's subjective well-being when compared to rural women. Second, educational attainment has a significantly positive effect on subjective well-being only in urban areas, while having teen children is only statistically significant for rural residents. Third, the overall impact of employment conditions on women's subjective well-being is reduced due to the transition of gender conceptions. In all, the evaluation of subjective well-being of females is reshaped by the overwhelming transition of society in Mainland China.Research limitations/implications>There remain some limitations of this study. First, because CGSS 2015 data are the only data analyzed here, it is hard and inaccurate to compare the differences between this result and previous outcomes conducted by other scholars using CGSS 2005, 2010 and 2013 data. Second, the categories of employment conditions are not detailed, and thus it adds burden to further analysis. For future studies, a wider range of data should be taken into account and provide data support to have a convincing comparison at different times. The social background of diverse employment conditions could be discussed in-depth as well.Originality/value>Based on the early literature, this paper is intended to use Chinese data to study the major factors affecting Chinese female labor participation in Mainland China and also discuss the implications in practice.
Self-rated health (SRH) has been widely used to measure the overall health status of older adults. Research has shown that SRH is determined by a large array of factors, such as chronic disease ...conditions, genetic markers (e.g., Apolipoprotein E, APOE, NM_000041), stress factors, and health behaviors. However, few studies have incorporated these factors simultaneously in the analytic framework of SRH. The aim of this study is to examine the associations of these four sets of factors with SRH.
Using a dataset from a population-based, random-cluster survey of 1,005 elderly respondents aged 54-91 conducted in Taiwan in 2000, we use logistic regressions to examine associations of chronic health conditions, the APOE4 allele stress factors, and health behaviors with SRH. The four disease conditions include diabetes, heart diseases, gastric ulcers, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Stress factors are measured by traumatic events (having an earthquake-damaged house) and chronic life stress (financial difficulty). Health behaviors include smoking, drinking alcohol, vegetable and fruit intake, daily milk intake, and physical exercise.
Diabetes, heart diseases, gastric ulcers, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are found to be associated with 2.63 (95 % CI: 1.75-3.95), 1.72 (95 % CI: 1.15-2.58), 1.94 (95 % CI: 1.35-2.80), and 2.54 (95 % CI: 1.66-3.92) odds ratios of poor SRH. The APOE4 allele is found to be significantly associated with poor SRH with odd ratio of 1.58 (95 % CI: 1.02-2.41). Financial difficulty is associated with increased likelihood of poor SRH, with odds ratios of 1.76 (95 % CI: 1.22-2.54) Doing exercise more than 5 times per week are associated with reduced likelihood of poor SRH by 44 % (odds ratio is 0.56, 95 % CI: 0.39-1.82). The interaction term between gender and gastric ulcer showed that the impact of gastric ulcer on SRH is more pronounced in women than in men, with an odds ratio of 2.63 (95 % CI: 1.24-5.58).
Chronic conditions and the APOE4 allele are significantly associated with increased likelihood of reporting poor health, and the associations appear differently among women and men. To better understand the mechanism of how people self-assess their overall health, chronic conditions and genetic components should be considered together with conventional factors such as life stress and health behaviors.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the public health concerns of social isolation and loneliness for older people who are vulnerable due to their health conditions and more restrictive social ...measures. However studies revealed that many older adults demonstrated high resilience and remained emotionally stable during the pandemic, particularly those who had a broad engagement with online technology that could compensate for their isolation. Yet, little empirical research has examined explicitly the association between online engagement and loneliness among older adults, and the role resilience played in this relationship during the pandemic. This study contributed to the literature by addressing these research gaps.
This study investigated the relationships between online engagement (sum of involvement in 31 online activities), resilience (sum of positive experiences and personal growth during COVID-19) and loneliness (mean of 11-items from the revised version of the UCLA loneliness scale) among community-dwelling older people (aged 60+), using national survey data from the 2020 Health and Retirement Study (HRS) collected during the COVID-19 pandemic (N = 3,552).
Online engagement was negatively associated with levels of loneliness (β = -0.080, 95% CI -0.118, -0.047), and this association was partially mediated by levels of resilience (β = -0.023, 95% CI -0.031, -0.016. The findings suggested that a broad integration of online technology into daily-life may have helped older people combat loneliness during the pandemic, and resilience could be one important mechanism that linked this association.
•Broader online engagement is linked to lower levels of loneliness for older adults.•Resilience partially mediates the link between online engagement and loneliness.•Online engagement promotes resilience for older people in the pandemic.•Increased resilience is related to lower levels of loneliness among older people.
From the 2009-2014 OECD Household Expenditure Database and the 2014 European Social Survey Database，this study generates a new set of integrated macro and micro data（non-longitudinal）. A multi-level ...binomial regression model is applied to explore the impact of macro-family policies on micro-fertility decision-making in fifteen European countries. Our research emphasizes the importance of theoretical perspective and focuses on the specific policy measures that are related to the two distinctively different policy values of "family-oriented" and "de-family-oriented". The empirical results find that the"de-family-oriented" childcare services have a significant positive impact on the birth decisions of European families，while the"family-oriented" cash subsidies have not produced the expected significant effect. This study further examines the differential impact of family policies on different groups of people，focusing on the effects of gender，age，education，and income. The results reveal that couples of younger a
Abstract
With the rapid socioeconomic development and the increasing average life expectancy, China has shifted into an era of longevity. One significant feature of this era is the increasing size of ...Chinese centenarians and their health status are attracting increasing attention from academic communities. By using Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), this paper employs Cox model to pinpoint the key influencing factors of mortality risk of Chinese centenarians. Our findings turn out that compared with the other elderly population, the mortality-risk determinants among centenarians are unique. The most important risk of the latter comes from their objective health status. The worse the health situation, the higher mortality risk is. Meanwhile, this rate is less affected by social and economic conditions. However, gender and smoking habit all play parts in the mortality risk of centenarians. This study comprehensively understands the key factors of the mortality risk of Chinese centenarians, which is of great significance for reducing centenarians’ mortality risks and enhancing their health and well-beings.
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