Abstract
With the dramatic trend of global aging, the physical and mental health of the rural elderly has attracted significant attention. Social support plays an important role in improving the health of the elderly. However, assessing the impact of social support on the physical and mental health of the elderly is challenging in rural China. This paper analyzes the impact of social support on the physical and mental health of the Chinese rural elderly based on data collected from households and village cadres. Probit, Oprobit, and ordinary least squares (OLS) are used to estimate these effects. The results show that 24.3% of the rural elderly are in bad physical health, and 32.9% of them are depressed. Physical and mental health is worse among the female elderly and among those who are in western provinces. Having pensions, taking care of grandchildren, and communicating with children by telephone are shown to significantly improve the mental health of the rural elderly. The government could promote the mental health of the rural elderly by improving public health services, increasing pensions, providing free mobile phones to elderly people in poverty, and advocating that the younger generation provide emotional support.
Highlights
The aging population presents a global challenge for the world’s social and economic development.The proportion of the world’s population above the age of 65 reached 8.9% in 2018 [1]
This result is similar to the results of previous studies [11,54]. These results suggest that the mental health of the rural elderly is worthy of attention, as well as their physical health
The results of the multivariable regression show that formal social support from the government and the village collective has no significant impact on the physical health of the rural elderly (Table 4, rows 1–4, columns 1–4)
Summary
The aging population presents a global challenge for the world’s social and economic development. The proportion of the world’s population above the age of 65 reached 8.9% in 2018 [1]. Health Organization (WHO) reported that the number of people over 60 years old will exceed the number of children under 5 years old by 2020. The proportion of the world’s population over 60 will nearly double from 12% to 22% between 2015 and 2050 [2]. Population aging started in high-income countries (for example, 30% of Japan’s population is over 60), the biggest changes are being seen in low- and middle-income countries [2]. All countries encounter major challenges and must ensure that their health and social systems are prepared to cope with the potential consequences of this demographic shift
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