Health Literacy Mediates the Association Between Socioeconomic Status and Productive Aging Among Elderly Chinese Adults in a Newly Urbanized Community.

Tianpei Ma,Min Sun,Chaoyong Jia,Zhiqiu Ye,Hongdao Meng,Danping Liu

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2021.647230

Abstract

Productive aging, or older adults engaging in paid or unpaid activities that produce socially valued goods or services, has been suggested to have the beneficial impact on older adults' health and well-being. We performed a cross-sectional study to examine the influence of health literacy on the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and productive aging among older Chinese adults in a newly urbanized community. Data was collected from 995 older adults from a newly urbanized community between June and August 2013 in Chengdu, China. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypothesized relationship among SES, health literacy and productive aging. Results showed that education attainment and income had a direct positive effect on health literacy (β = 0.47and β = 0.15, respectively). Education had a partial indirect effect on productive aging through health literacy (β = 0.27). And health literacy was an important factor in improving the productive aging of the elderly. Interventions targeting health education and health promotion should be taken to improve health literacy of older adults under the background of urbanization, especially for those with lower SES.

Highlights

China’s older adult population is expected to increase rapidly in the few decades, with the projected tripling of the proportion of adults aged 65 or over in the 30 years comparing to a doubling of the same proportion in the U.S [1]
With respect to the influence of education on productive aging, we found that the total effect, direct effect and indirect effect of this path were all statistically significant, suggesting that education influenced productive aging both independently and partially through health literacy
We found that health literacy would directly positively influence productive aging

Summary

Introduction

China’s older adult population is expected to increase rapidly in the few decades, with the projected tripling of the proportion of adults aged 65 or over in the 30 years comparing to a doubling of the same proportion in the U.S [1]. Productive aging has been defined as any activities undertaken by an older adult, which produces socially valued goods or services, whether paid for or not [4]. It included employment, providing assistance to families, volunteering, and other forms of social participation [5]. Few studies explored the factors that affect older adults’ productive aging These studies were conducted mostly in developed countries with well-health care systems, little is known about productive aging in China, a developing country with a vastly different cultural and social background [56]

Methods

Discussion

Conclusion