Chinese General Social Survey Data Research Articles

The same sky, different urban and rural environmental treatment: analysis based on Chinese general social survey data

The same sky, different urban and rural environmental treatment: analysis based on Chinese general social survey data

Dynamics of returns to vocational education in China: 2010–2017

In this paper, we use the Chinese General Social Survey data (2010–2017) to analyze the dynamics of returns to different education qualifications. We find increasing returns for all types of education, with returns to vocational and academic education increasing roughly at the same speed. We additionally compare the returns to vocational education with returns to academic education. Compared to those who only complete compulsory education, upper secondary graduates earn about 20% more, vocational college graduates earn 50%, and academic university graduates earn 75% more. At tertiary level, academic education pays better than vocational education, although the difference shrinks over the years. At upper secondary level, the evidence is indeterminate, depending on different econometric techniques (i.e., OLS, IV, Lewbel method, or PSM). These findings add to the limited quantitative evidence on returns to vocational education. The dynamics emerged from the findings echo the discussion on labor market mismatch and overeducation in China, which has important policy implications.

Impact of mobile payment adoption on household expenditures and subjective well‐being

AbstractThis paper estimates the effects of mobile payment adoption on household expenditures and people's subjective well‐being. We consider four categories of household expenditures (that on clothes, durable goods, consumer goods, and cultural and leisure activities) and four indicators (life satisfaction, contentment, income satisfaction, and depression) of subjective well‐being. We use the Augmented Inverse Probability Weighting estimator to analyze the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey data while accounting for the selection bias inherent in mobile payment adoption. The empirical results show that people's decisions to adopt mobile payment are positively associated with their educational levels, car ownership, social interaction, internet penetration rate, and residential location. Mobile payment adoption significantly increases household expenditures on consumer goods and cultural and leisure activities but not on expenditures on clothes and durable goods. Moreover, mobile payment adoption significantly decreases people's contentment while increasing depression. We also find that mobile payment adoption significantly decreases the contentment of urban people but significantly increases the depression of rural people.

How does Education Affect Women’s Fertility Desire of Childbearing Age

Based on the data of CGSS (Chinese General Social Survey) in 2017, this paper conducts an exploratory study on the relationship between fertility desire and education among women of childbearing age. The results show that: First, the fertility desire of women in eastern part of China is significantly lower than that in central and west; Secondly, the longer a woman's years of education, the lower her desire to have children; Finally, the impact of education difference on non-eastern women is more significant. The influence of economic and educational development on fertility desire is consistent, which reveals that the aging phenomenon is accompanied with the social development process, so we need to analyze it from an objective perspective.

Digitalization in China: who’s left behind?

ABSTRACT In an age of digitalization, who still refuses to use digital technology? Drawing on nationally-representative Chinese General Social Survey data, this article finds that about half of Chinese households do not actively use the Internet or e-payment systems, despite their ubiquity. This article estimates the effects of socioeconomic resources on these technologies’ (non-)use across urban, resident but previously urban, resident but previously rural, and rural hukou household registrations in China. Educational attainment is associated with higher odds of use among rural hukou, but the size of this effect is nearly double compared to urban hukou. Additionally, being female increases the odds of use among urban and resident but previously urban hukou, and lowers the odds of use in rural hukou, but which are attenuated by the mediating effects of education. The results give credence to education as a direct and indirect mechanism for digital skills development, especially for rural households. Individuals proximal to rural living conditions have fewer opportunities to learn about digital technology, resulting in greater dependency on education as a rare source of skills training. Simultaneously, education indirectly creates opportunities for women to learn digital skills by improving chances for higher-status job participation that require information management skills, especially in rural regions where traditional cultural norms constrain opportunities for upward mobility. Ultimately, digital technology non-use is traced not to lack of interest, but to lack of skills development opportunities among the socioeconomically disadvantaged.

Air Quality, Pollution Perception, and Residents' Health: Evidence from China.

Environmental and resident health issues associated with air pollution are an area of growing concern for both policy officials and the general public. In recent years, China has been accelerating the construction of a Beautiful China and a Healthy China, with the aim of protecting and improving the environment and ensuring public health. In this study, we aimed to explore the impact of air quality and air pollution perception on residents' health. This study used the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey data to measure self-rated health, mental health, and air pollution perception. Using matched socioeconomic indicators and air pollution data, we analyzed the relationship between subjective perception of air pollution, objective air pollution data, and residents' health. The results showed the following: (1) Air pollution perception has a significant negative impact on self-rated health and mental health. Thus, it needs more consideration to reduce environmental health risks. (2) Objective air pollution has a significant negative impact on mental health. At the same time, its effect on self-rated health was insignificant. These results provide empirical evidence supporting the Chinese government's decision to invest more in combating air pollution and ensuring the health of Chinese residents.

Research on the Influence of Ecological Environment Satisfaction and Income Level on Chinese Residents’ Happiness: Empirical Analysis Based on CGSS Data

Enhancing residents’ happiness is a fundamental goal of development and a priority for government action. This article conducts a theoretical analysis of the impact of the ecological environment and income level on residents’ happiness and uses data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2017 to construct an ordered probit model. The model examines the mechanisms of ecological environment satisfaction and income level on residents’ happiness. The study reveals that (1) residents’ satisfaction with the ecological environment has a significant positive effect on their happiness, which is consistent across urban–rural and regional contexts. (2) Both absolute and relative income have a significant positive effect on residents’ happiness, with relative income having a greater influence than absolute income. (3) Income level can regulate the impact of ecological environment satisfaction on residents’ happiness, indicating that an increase in residents’ income level weakens the effect of ecological environment satisfaction on their happiness. (4) Residents’ absolute income mediates the process by which ecological environment satisfaction impacts their happiness. These findings enhance our understanding of the relationship between the ecological environment, income level, and residents’ happiness, and provide new ideas for government action aimed at improving residents’ happiness.

Has Internet Usage Really Narrowed the Gender Wage Gap?: Evidence from Chinese General Social Survey Data

Based on the data from a sample of 4832 from the Chinese General Social Survey in 2018, this study examines the impact of Internet usage on the wage equation for males and females by using the robust least squares regression method, the threshold regression method, and the quantile regression method and decomposes the gender wage gap on this basis by using the RIF regression decomposition method. The findings show that, firstly, in either linear or nonlinear effects, Internet usage has a significant wage premium effect on the male wage equation, and this premium effect increases as male wage income rises, but Internet usage consistently does not have a significant effect on the female wage equation. Secondly, 26.73% of the overall gender wage gap is due to Internet usage, and the presence of gender discrimination in the cyberspace is a significant contributor to this result. Thirdly, Internet usage causes the gender wage gaps at different wage levels to be further widened to different degrees. Specifically, Internet usage has the strongest effect on the gender wage gap at lower wage levels, the second strongest effect on the gender wage gap at higher wage levels, and the weakest effect on the gender wage gap at middle wage levels. The different levels of gender discrimination experienced by females in the cyberspace are an important cause of the differential widening effect of Internet usage on gender wage gaps at different wage levels. Therefore, this study proposes policy recommendations in terms of regulating gender discrimination and introducing relevant female protection policies.

Perception of Air Pollution and the Evaluation of Local Governments’ Environmental Governance: An Empirical Study on China

In China, blue sky defense is a crucial part of ecological environment governance. Objective environmental governance performance needs to be perceived by the public to more truly affect the public’s evaluation of the government’s environmental governance. This paper focuses on the public’s subjective perception of air pollution and evaluation of the local government’s environmental governance. Based on the Chinese General Social Survey data, the matched economic indicators, and air pollution data, we conduct a diachronic study on the public’s evaluation of local governments’ environmental protection work, and we analyze the relationship between the subjective perception of air pollution, the objective air pollution data, and the evaluation of local governments’ environmental protection work. The results showed the following: (1) People’s evaluation of local governments’ environmental protection work significantly improved from 2013 to 2021. The objective indicator improved, while the subjective perception declined. (2) The subjective perception of air pollution has a significant negative impact on the evaluation of local governments’ environmental protection work and needs to be better considered to improve air quality. At the same time, the effect of the objective indicator is insignificant.

Rural–urban migration and urban identity differentiation in China

ABSTRACT Previous studies on the social identity of rural-urban migrants in China have often neglected the fact that migration is highly selective. Consequently, the findings generally suffer from survival bias. To overcome this problem, we construct an analytical framework to differentiate six subgroups: rural residents with no migration experience, returned migrants, rural-urban migrants, new urban residents through elite approaches, new urban residents through policy dividends, and urban natives. Employing logistic regression, propensity score matching, and propensity score-based marginal mean weighting through stratification, this study analyzes the 2013 Chinese General Social Survey data and confirms that the urban identity of rural residents, rural-urban migrants, new urban residents, and urban natives changed from weak to strong. The sources of urban identity can be ascribed to three aspects: urban experience, hukou conversion, and generational replacement, among which hukou conversion is the most important. The findings indicate that incorporating rural-urban migrants whose identity status may have changed into the analysis helps overcome the problem of survival bias. This method can be further used to reveal other issues related to rural-urban migration in urbanizing China. Moreover, theories concerning international migrants in western countries should be critically appraised before being applied to explain the social integration of internal migrants in different social contexts.

Does mobile payment adoption affect the level and inequality of food expenditure?

ABSTRACT This study examines the impact of mobile payment adoption on the level and inequality of food expenditure using the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey data. We employ the Gini coefficient to measure food expenditure inequality and use the two-stage predictor substitution approach to address the endogeneity of mobile payment adoption. The results show that mobile payment adoption is associated with lower food expenditure. Specifically, mobile payment adopters spend 2,347 yuan less annually on food than non-adopters. Furthermore, food expenditure inequality is lower among mobile payment adopters than non-adopters. Owning a car, education, and income are positively associated with food expenditure; food expenditure inequality is lower in the more advanced regions of China. The results suggest that mobile payments can play an important role in helping households save considerably on food expenditure, a necessary outlay constituting a significant proportion of the overall spending of Chinese households.

The Influence of Internet Usage on Gender Division of Labour Bias: Evidence from Chinese General Social Survey Data

Based on data from 18,741 respondents in the 2010 and 2017 Chinese General Social Survey, this paper empirically analyzes the influence of Internet usage on gender division of labour bias by using the propensity score matching model and tests the sensitivity of the estimated results. The results show that firstly, a series of personal characteristics such as gender, age, years of education, ethnicity, political status, health status, marital status, household registration status, labour income, mother’s years of education, and family economic status will have a significant impact on whether they frequently use the Internet. Secondly, frequent internet usage can significantly reduce respondents’ agreement of gender division of labour bias, indicating that frequent internet usage can significantly improve respondents’ gender division of labour bias, and the results of Rosenbaum’s bound test and H-L confidence interval test both support the above conclusions. Thirdly, frequent internet usage can significantly reduce the recognition degree of women respondents and men respondents to gender division of labour bias, which indicates that frequent internet usage can not only strengthen women’s self-identity to a great extent but also improve men’s exclusion bias to a certain extent. Therefore, this paper puts forward some suggestions from two aspects: improving the accessibility of internet usage and guiding and controlling the content and behavior of various online media.

Impacts of Social Inequality, Air Pollution, Rural-Urban Divides, and Insufficient Green Space on Residents' Health in China: Insight from Chinese General Social Survey Data Analysis.

Attention to physical and mental health is becoming more intensive. In China, factors and mechanisms are now a focus of research. We used dynamic air quality monitoring data and the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) to assess the spatial differences and the coupling between subjective and objective air pollution. In addition, a logistic model was used to explore the impact mechanisms of social inequality, air pollution, food safety, and lack of green space on health. The results show that (1) the impact of subjective and objective air pollution on the health level of the population is significant; (2) income inequality, air pollution, food pollution, and travel behavior significantly affect the residents' health; and (3) environmental health has a significant differentiation mechanism between urban and rural areas. The negative health effects of air pollution and insufficient green space are more significant in cities; food pollution is more likely in rural areas. In terms of socioeconomic inequality, gender, family size, travel, and physical exercise had no significant effect on rural health. Health improvement was higher in the low-income group than in the high-income group. The adverse effect of travel behavior on environmental pollution is conducive to improving health. Therefore, social equality, strictly controlled environmental pollution, exercise, and travel can help narrow the gap between rich and poor, promote urban-rural health equity, and improve human health.

Investigating the role of multilevel social capital in ethnic income inequality in the Chinese labour market

This study examines to what extent individual- and county-level social capital respectively and jointly explain the Chinese ethnic income inequality. Using two waves of the Chinese General Social Survey data, social capital is operationalised into extensivity, upper reachability, mean prestige, and range via the position generator. Results show that social capital is unevenly distributed along the ethnic line in China, minorities are in disadvantaged position in accessing social capital, especially the number of occupation accessed and mean occupational prestige, compared with Han. When cross-level interactions are taken into account, with the increase of county-level social capital, its positive effect on minorities’ income attenuates while it become stronger for Han’s income. The differential returns of social capital on income between minorities and Han may be attributable to the mean prestige of their accessed position networks. Finally, the Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition analysis uncovers that when all variables are controlled for, there is still approximately 24 % of the income gap between minorities and Han remained unexplained, indicating the severe ethnic wage penalty minorities are facing in the Chinese labour market.

Influence of college education on happiness: A quasi-experimental study based on higher education expansion in China.

Previous studies have documented a positive association between college education and happiness. However, the endogeneity of college education attainment is rarely examined, and a more robust link between college education and happiness needs to be built. Based on the Chinese General Social Survey data of 2017, the present study used the quasi-experiment of China’s higher education expansion started in 1999 to construct a fuzzy regression discontinuity design to examine the causal association between college education and happiness. It is observed that college education indeed improved Chinese happiness, but this positive association was stronger in males than in females. Further, college education was observed to improve happiness by improving individual political status, perceived personal status, health and family social status, but not by increasing personal income. Accordingly, the government should continue to promote the development of higher education, and the fairness of higher education development deserves more attention to reduce population disparities in happiness.

Social status predicts different mating and reproductive success for men and women in China: evidence from the 2010–2017 CGSS data

Evolutionary psychological theories posit that higher social status is conducive to men’s reproductive success. Extant research from historical records, small scale societies, as well as industrialized societies, support this hypothesis. However, the relationship between status difference between spouses and reproductive success has been investigated less. Moreover, even fewer studies have directly compared the effect of status and status difference between spouses on reproductive success in men and women. Using data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) conducted between 2010 and 2017 (N = 55,875; 28,931 women) and operationalizing social status as standardized income and educational level (compared with same-sex peers), we examined how social status and relative status between spouses impact men’s and women’s mating and reproductive success. We found that (1) men with higher social status were more likely to have long-term mating (being in a marriage and/or not going through marriage disruption) and reproductive success, mainly through having a lower risk of childlessness; (2) women with higher social status were less likely to have mating and reproductive success; and (3) relative status between spouses had an impact on the couple’s reproductive success so that couples, where the husband had higher status compared to the wife, had higher reproductive success. Thus, social status positively impacted men’s reproductive success, but relative status between spouses also affected mating and impacted childbearing decisions.Significance statementIn terms of standardized educational level and income among peers, social status positively predicts men’s mating and reproductive success in contemporary China. However, while a higher social status increases the probability of having at least one child, it does not predict a greater number of children for men. A status difference between spouses, on the other hand, consistently predicts having children. Thus, the higher the husband’s status relative to his wife, the greater the likelihood of having the first, second, and third children. The current results suggest that when examining the effect of status on mating and reproduction, social status and status within a family should be considered. We also stress the importance of exploring the potential proximate mechanisms by which a status difference influences childbearing decisions.

The Influence of Subjective Social Status on Self-Rated Health: Evidence from China

Subjective Social Status (SSS) inevitably affects the self-rated health of individuals and /or societal groups. Based on the evidence from China, this paper aims to 1) assess the influence of Objective Social Status and Subjective Social Status on differences in self-rated health in China; 2) to examine the correlations between Subjective Social Status and perceived health. The data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2010 are selected to achieve the two aims with SSS measured by Subjective Family Economic Status (SFES, using the Likert scale) and Subjective Social Class (SSC, using the MacArthur scale), and Health Status measured by a continuous ill score calculated by the standard logarithmic normal distribution index conversion of self-rated health. Advanced statistical modeling using the nested multiple robust regression model and interaction analysis is used to deal with heteroscedasticity from the CGSS data. It is found that: 1) lower SSS is associated with poor health status and SSS is a more comprehensive predictor of health status; 2) aging has more apparent influences on the health of lower SSS groups; 3) lower SSS groups have received higher health returns from their educational attainment than higher SSS groups though they tend to be in poorer health status; 4) once have a chronic disease the health of lower SFES groups will suffer more deterioration than higher ones.

The Influence of Subjective Social Status on Self-Rated Health: Evidence from China

Subjective Social Status (SSS) inevitably affects the self-rated health of individuals and /or societal groups. Based on the evidence from China, this paper aims to 1) assess the influence of Objective Social Status and Subjective Social Status on differences in self-rated health in China; 2) to examine the correlations between Subjective Social Status and perceived health. The data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) 2010 are selected to achieve the two aims with SSS measured by Subjective Family Economic Status (SFES, using the Likert scale) and Subjective Social Class (SSC, using the MacArthur scale), and Health Status measured by a continuous ill score calculated by the standard logarithmic normal distribution index conversion of self-rated health. Advanced statistical modeling using the nested multiple robust regression model and interaction analysis is used to deal with heteroscedasticity from the CGSS data. It is found that: 1) lower SSS is associated with poor health status and SSS is a more comprehensive predictor of health status; 2) aging has more apparent influences on the health of lower SSS groups; 3) lower SSS groups have received higher health returns from their educational attainment than higher SSS groups though they tend to be in poorer health status; 4) once have a chronic disease the health of lower SFES groups will suffer more deterioration than higher ones.

Import liberalization and Chinese citizens’ sense of social fairness: empirical research based on 2010–2015 CGSS data

Efficiency and fairness are major social goals. However, the international trade literature focuses on how trade affects economic efficiency, ignoring the issue of fairness. This study examines the impact of import liberalization on Chinese residents’ sense of social fairness using Chinese General Social Survey data covering 2010–2015. It finds that import liberalization improves Chinese residents’ sense of social fairness and that this effect is more significant for groups with low education levels, low incomes, and low social class. Further empirical results show that import liberalization improves Chinese residents’ sense of social fairness by reducing income inequality (Result Fairness) and promoting class mobility (Opportunity Fairness). These findings imply that import liberalization is important for realizing social equity and that there is a great need to promote reform through opening-up in order to foster a fair and just institutional environment.

Can the parental socio-economic status promote the children to participate in physical exercise? An empirical study based on the survey data of CGSS 2017.

This paper discusses the promotion effect and mechanism of the parental socio-economic status (SES) on their offspring's participation in physical exercise and provides direction and guidance for the formulation of sports public policies. 7,965 data were obtained from the 2017 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) dataset. To investigate the effect and mechanism of parental SES in encouraging offspring to engage in physical activity, this paper used a binary logistic regression model and an ordinal logistic regression model. The moderating effects of urban-rural variables and birth cohorts were explored through hierarchical regression analysis and regression coefficient difference test. Robustness tests were performed by sample screening and model replacement. After controlling for related variables, the parental SES can improve the possibility of children's participation in physical exercise (OR = 1.134, p < 0.01). Part of this promotion effect is realized by improving their children's education level (19.87%) and social communication (2.56%), and the promotion effect increases gradually with the passage of time and social changes. The robustness test results show that the empirical research results are reliable. The parental SES can promote their children to participate in physical exercise.