Abstract
BackgroundMany studies focused on health inequality between migrant older adults and local older adults, while few study concerned the health inequalities between urban-to-urban and rural-to-urban migrant older adults. This study aimed to compare physical health and mental health between these two groups in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and to explore the relationship between cognitive social capital, social integration and health among migrant older adults.MethodsA two-stage stratified sampling method was employed to recruit participants from May to August 2013 in Hangzhou. Measurement data were compared with student’s t-tests and multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Multiple linear regression was adopted in this study.ResultsA total of 1000 of participants who met the inclusion criteria were analyzed, consisting of 527 (52.7%) urban-to-urban and 473 (47.3%) rural-to-urban migrant older adults. There were no statistically significant difference in physical health and mental health between urban-to-urban and rural-to-urban groups on the whole. However, urban-to-urban migrant older adults had a higher reciprocity and social integration than did in rural-to-urban group (13.36 vs. 12.50, p < 0.01; 40.07 vs. 38.50, p < 0.01). And both of cognitive social capital and social integration were positively related to physical health (social reciprocity: t = 6.69, p < 0.01; social trust: t = 3.27, p < 0.01; social integration: t = 5.66, p < 0.01) and mental health (social reciprocity: t = 4.49, p < 0.01; social trust: t = 5.15, p < 0.01; social integration: t = 10.02, p < 0.01). Overall, the female, widowed, and the oldest among migrant older adults had a worse health.ConclusionsSocial capital and social integration were played important roles in health of migrant older adults. The female rural-to-urban migrant older adults, those aged over 70 years, and older adults who were not in marriage should be especially concerned in health policy making.
Highlights
Many studies focused on health inequality between migrant older adults and local older adults, while few study concerned the health inequalities between urban-to-urban and rural-to-urban migrant older adults
Proportion of the married migrant older adults was close in these two groups, 84.06% in urban-to-urban and 81.61% in rural-to-urban group respectively (p = 0.3)
More than 60% urban-to-urban and rural-tourban migrant older adults have lived in Hangzhou more than 3 years (p < 0.01)
Summary
Many studies focused on health inequality between migrant older adults and local older adults, while few study concerned the health inequalities between urban-to-urban and rural-to-urban migrant older adults. This study aimed to compare physical health and mental health between these two groups in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, China, and to explore the relationship between cognitive social capital, social integration and health among migrant older adults. The proportion of older adults (age 60 years and above) in the whole population was increasing worldwide [1], both in developed and developing countries [2]. The scale of migrant older adults, aged 60 and above who migrate between regions, increased rapidly. With medical model transformation from a biomedical model to a bio-psycho-social model, recent evidence has been show that factors such as social capital [5], social integration [6] and social-economic factors (gender, education, marital status, immigrant status) may be important for migrant older adults’ health. Social integration was a broad term that refers to the degree to which an individual is connected to others and embedded in the community [16]
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