Abstract

IntroductionThis study aimed to analyze the association of childhood social isolation and behavioral cognition, and moderating effect of family support in middle-aged and older adults. MethodsThe study samples were from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) of 2014 and 2018. The dependent variable was behavioral cognitive ability, measured by episodic memory and mental state; The independent variable was childhood social isolation, and the moderating variable was family support. The baseline OLS regression model was used to explore the correlation among independent variables, dependent variables and moderating variables, the least square regression model was used to analyze the moderating effect of family support, and the replacement model and the method of replacing characteristic variables were used for the robustness test. Hierarchical regression heterogeneity analysis was performed to further verify the results of the moderating effect. ResultsIn this study, 3459 samples were selected for analysis. OLS baseline regression results showed that the deepening of childhood social isolation was significantly correlated with the decline of behavioral cognitive ability in middle-aged and elderly people (β=-0.9664, t = 0.0893). After adding all covariates, we found that childhood social isolation was significantly negatively correlated with behavioral cognitive ability in middle-aged and elderly people (β=-0.4118, t = 0.0785). Among the moderating variables of family support, we found that there is a moderating effect on female guardians' efforts of caring in early parental support (β=0.0948, t = 0.0320) and the frequency of children's visits in late children support (β=0.0073, t = 0.0036). Finally, through the heterogeneity test, we found that there were differences in the relationship between childhood social isolation and behavioral cognitive ability among middle-aged and elderly people of different ages, genders and places of residence. Moreover, there are significant differences in the moderating effect of female guardian's effort of caring and the frequency of children's visits in heterogeneous groups. ConclusionsThe greater the degree of childhood social isolation experienced by middle-aged and elderly people, the worse their behavioral cognitive ability. Female guardian's effort of caring and the frequency of children's visits have a moderating effect to suppress this negative effect.

Full Text
Paper version not known

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.