Rural Residents In China Research Articles

Functional and dysfunctional impulsivity and attempted suicide in rural China: A paired case-control study

This study aimed to clarify the relationship between functional and dysfunctional impulsivity and attempted suicide in rural China. Data of this study came from the investigation of 407 suicide attempters and their paired non-suicide attempters matched with the same gender, age (±3 years) and residence area in six counties in rural Shandong, China. Suicide attempters accounted for a lower proportion on high functional impulsivity, but a higher proportion on high dysfunctional impulsivity than non-suicide attempters. Dysfunctional impulsivity in the male denoted a significant risk factor for attempted suicide, even after adjustment for psychiatric disorder and demographic factors. Suicide attempters with high dysfunctional impulsivity had a higher percent of family suicide history than those with low dysfunctional impulsivity. High functional impulsivity was a significant protective factor for attempted suicide in the group aged 35–59 years, but a significant risk factor in the group aged 15–34 years. Suicide attempters with low functional impulsivity had poorer economic status and older age than those with high functional impulsivity. Our findings support the key roles of functional and dysfunctional impulsivity in attempted suicide among rural residents of China.

Public Health Insurance System Reform and Its Impact on Health Service Utilization in Rural China: Evidence from CHNS 2000 and 2011

This study employs an empirical analysis to investigate the impact of the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) on health service utilization in Chinese rural region using the 2000 and 2011 China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS) longitudinal survey data and Difference in Difference (DID) analysis method. The major conclusions are as follows. First, individual characteristic factors, enabling factors, health care need factors, and lifestyle factors affect health service utilization, which is consistent with Anderson model. Second, when controlled these factors based on Anderson model, the results indicate that the NCMS did not affect health service utilization (outpatient, inpatient, and health care examination) of individual when ill. Third, to consider the disparity of health care demand and supply, we also employ the analysis utilized the subsamples to take robustness checks. The results indicate that there is no difference statistically in health service utilization between the NCMS enrollment group and the non-enrollment group by age groups (16 - 49 aged group and 50 age and over group), income groups (High, Middle and Low-income groups), and regional groups (East, West and Central Regions). Therefore, it can be said that the NCMS did not improve either health service utilization for patients or preventative health care for rural residents in China.

我国农村居民生活能源碳排放的时空特征分析

我国农村居民生活能源碳排放的时空特征分析

Sex Differences in Prevalence of and Risk Factors for Carotid Plaque among Adults: A Population-based Cross-Sectional Study in Rural China.

Although the associations between carotid plaque and cardiovascular disease risk factors have been identified in previous studies, there is limited information on sex-related differences in factors associated with the development of carotid plaque. We aimed to determine sex differences in the prevalence of carotid plaque and associated risk factors in rural China. A total of 3,789 subjects aged ≥45 years without history of stroke or cardiovascular disease were recruited to the study. B-mode ultrasonography was performed to determine the presence of carotid plaque. The mean age of male subjects was greater than that of female subjects. In addition, there was a higher prevalence of carotid plaque in men than in women (50.1% vs. 35.5%; P < 0.001) irrespective of age group, education level, and presence of risk factors. Older age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, and high concentrations of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol were pronouncedly associated with the risk of carotid plaque in both men and women. These findings suggest that it is vital for physicians to be aware that conventional risk factors and other related factors are of equal importance among rural residents in China; patients should thus be treated accordingly so that reduce the burden of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Thermal comfort of rural residents in a hot–humid area

ABSTRACTThe thermal comfort of rural residents in China is studied to improve their living conditions and safeguard agricultural development. The present study recruited 30 healthy young people (50% male and 50% female) from rural areas of the hot and humid region of China and exposed them to a wide range of temperatures (20–32°C) and humidities (50% and 70%) in a climate chamber. Both the psychological and physiological responses were observed. The thermal neutral standard effective temperature (SET) was determined to be 26.8°C and the 90% thermal acceptable SET range was 22.9–30.7°C. Mean skin temperature and skin wetness were found to be good predictors for thermal comfort in the neutral-cool and neutral-warm conditions, respectively. When compared with the previous results from similar studies of urban participants living in naturally ventilated buildings, a significant divergence is found. Rural participants reported the same thermal sensation but felt more comfortable and acceptable under identical cool or warm conditions. Rural participants had the same neutral temperature, but a much wider acceptable temperature range. The reason for these differences between rural and urban people may be attributed to differences in local culture, expectations and environmental cognition.

Research on differences in the factors influencing the energy-saving behavior of urban and rural residents in China–A case study of Jiangsu Province

As environmental problems grow increasingly prominent, energy-saving behavior research has gradually captured the attention of scholars throughout the world. This paper conducts a study of energy-saving behavior and the influencing factors using correlation analysis, multiple regression analysis and other research methods; it focuses first on urban and rural residents in Jiangsu Province and then regionally on North Jiangsu, Middle Jiangsu and South Jiangsu. The results show that (1) urban residents in Jiangsu Province tend to engage in more energy-saving activities than rural residents; regionally, the energy-saving tendencies of residents from the area can be ranked as follows: Middle Jiangsu residents > North Jiangsu residents > South Jiangsu residents. (2) Urban-rural differences and regional differences also exist in Jiangsu Province in terms of both buying choice behavior and daily use behavior. With regard to regional differences in the factors influencing buying choice behavior and daily use behavior to support energy saving, North Jiangsu residents are most influenced by a sense of responsibility for the environment, Middle Jiangsu residents by policies and regulations and energy-saving knowledge, and South Jiangsu residents by low-carbon energy-saving willingness and energy-saving knowledge. This paper offers differentiated guidance regarding policies based on its research conclusions.

Investigating the Intention of Rural Residents to Use Transit in Cixi, China

AbstractTransit is a very important traveling mode for rural residents in developing China. The intention of rural and suburban residents to choose a transit mode is affected by various types of factors. Based on the revealed data, this paper focuses on analyzing the transit mode choice intention of rural residents in China. A structure equation model is applied to examine the critical factors affecting the intension of rural residents to use transit in the city of Cixi, China. The internal relationships among those factors are also discussed. Results indicate that residents’ income, automobile ownership, and satisfaction with the convenience and reliability of rural bus service are noticeable affecting factors. This study provides valuable insights to improving bus services in rural areas of China.

The impact of predisposing, enabling, and need factors in utilization of health services among rural residents in Guangxi, China.

BackgroundHealthcare in China has significantly improved, meanwhile many socio-economic risk factors and health conditions factors affect accessibility and utilization of health services in rural areas. Inequity of health service in China needs to be estimated and reduced. Andersen behavioral model is useful to assess the association of health service utilization with predisposing, enabling, and need factors.MethodsA survey was conducted among 4634 residents of 897 households in 2012. Logistic regression analysis was performed to explore the association of predisposing (age, gender, marital status, ethnicity and family size), enabling (education level, travel time to the nearest health facility, medical expense per capita, and health insurance coverage), and need factors (chronic disease) with the utilization of health services (i.e. physician visit and hospitalization).ResultsWe observed a significant association between need factor (chronic diseases) and health service unitization, after adjusting for all predisposing and enabling factors (physician visits: odds ratio (OR) = 5.87, 95 % confidence interval (CI) = 4.71–7.32; hospitalization: OR = 4.04, 95 % CI = 2.90–5.61, respectively). In addition, age, gender, marital status, family size and education level were significant predictors of health service utilization. The travel time to the nearest health facility was associated with the utilization of physician visits, and expenditure on healthcare was a hindering factor of hospitalization.ConclusionsThe predisposing and enabling factors had a minor impact on health service utilization, while the need factor was a dominant predictor of health service utilization among rural residents in China.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12913-016-1825-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Least Absolute Integral Method of Data Fitting Based on Algorithm of Simulated Annealing and Neural Network

There are many methods related to data fitting, and each method has its distinctive features. The article discusses the method of data fitting function under integral criterion. Since the estimate fitting parameters are complicated, the article combines algorithm of simulated annealing and neural network algorithm to solve the integral with neural network algorithm and solve the unknown parameters with simulated annealing algorithm. By case analog computation of household per capita consumption expenditure of urban and the rural residents in China, it proves that the combination of simulated annealing algorithm and neural network algorithm has strong reliability and high accuracy in terms of new method for least absolute integral data fitting.

Screening and health risk of organic micropollutants in rural groundwater of Liaodong Peninsula, China

Groundwater serves as a main drinking water source for rural residents in China. However, little is known regarding the pollution of organic micropollutants in groundwater that may pose health risks. In this study, more than 1300 organic micropollutants were screened in the groundwater samples collected from 13 drinking water wells distributed across five rural regions of Liaodong Peninsula in China. A total of 80 organic micropollutants including 12 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, 11 alkanes, 9 pesticides, 7 substituted phenols, 7 perfluoroalkyl acids, 6 heterocyclic compounds, 5 alcohols, 5 phthalic acid esters, 5 pharmaceutical and personal care products, 3 ketones, 2 polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), 2 alkylbenzenes and 2 chlorinated benzenes were detected, with their total concentration of 32–1.5 × 104 ng/L. Noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic risks of a part of pollutants were assessed. Exposure through skin absorption and oral ingestion was considered in the assessment. Generally the risks are within the acceptable limits, except for that the carcinogenic risk at two sites in Jinzhou is higher than 10−6. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on health risks of groundwater micropollutants in China.

The sustainability of drinking water supply in rural China: Does the provision of drinking water investment mismatch the demand of residents?

It is doubted that the top down nature of investment planning may lead to mismatches between drinking water investment and the demands of local residents in rural China. Statistical and econometric analysis based on data of 2020 rural households from five Chinese provinces from 1998 to 2011 are used to illustrate the linkage between demand for drinking water investment and construction of drinking water projects. Household's demand significantly affects drinking water projects implemented by upper level governments and implemented jointly, but is not significant in explaining the projects implemented by village. There is evidence to suggest that the demands of local leaders override those of households in the implementation of drinking water projects provided by village in the early stage of 2005–2008. The situation improves in the latter stage of 2008–2011when the village level participatory bodies begin to provide opportunities for households to voice their preferences on public goods investment. The results of this study imply that it is important to explore appropriate regulations and policies that enabling local cadres to better meet local demands of their communities to ensure the sustainability of rural drinking water supply.

New cooperative medical scheme decreased financial burden but expanded the gap of income-related inequity: evidence from three provinces in rural China.

BackgroundSubsidizing healthcare costs through insurance schemes is crucial to overcome financial barriers to health care and to avoid high medical expenditures for patients in China. The health insurance could decrease financial risk by less out-of-pocket (OOP) payment, but not promise the protection equity. With the growth of New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS) financing and coverage since 2008, the protection effectiveness and equity of the modified NCMS policies on financial burden should be further evaluated.MethodsA cross-sectional household survey was conducted in Zhejiang, Hubei, and Chongqing provinces by multi-stage stratified random sampling in 2011. A total of 1,525 households covered by the NCMS were analyzed. The protection effectiveness and protection equity of NCMS was analyzed by comparing the changes in health care utilization and medical expenditures, and the changes in the prevalence of catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) and its concentration indices (CIs) between pre- and post-NCMS reimbursement, respectively.ResultsThe medical financial burden was still remarkably high for the low income rural residents in China due to high OOP payment, even after NCMS reimbursement. In Hubei province, the OOP payment of the poorest quintile was almost same as their households’ annual expenditures. Even it was higher than their annual expenditures in Chongqing municipality. Effective reimbursement ratio of both outpatient and inpatient services were far lower than nominal reimbursement ratio originally designed by NCMS plans. After NCMS reimbursement, the prevalence of CHE was considerably high in all three provinces, and the absolute values of CIs were even higher than those before reimbursement, indicating the inequity exaggerated.ConclusionPolicymakers should further modify NCMS policy in rural China. The high OOP payment could be decreased by expanding the drug list and check directory for benefit package of NCMS to minimize the gap between nominal reimbursement ratio and effective reimbursement ratio. And the increase in medical expenditures should be controlled by monitoring excess demand from both medical service providers and patients, and changing fee-for-service payment for providers to a prospective payment system. Service accessibility and affordability for vulnerable rural residents should be protected by modifying regressive financing in NCMS, and by providing extra financial aid and reimbursement from government.

Care Utilization with China’s New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme: Updated Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011–2012

China's New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS), a healthcare financing system for rural residents in China, underwent significant enhancement since 2008. Studies based on pre-2008 NRCMS data showed an increase in inpatient care utilization after NRCMS coverage. However evidence was mixed for the relationship between outpatient care use and NRCMS coverage. We assessed whether enrollment in the enhanced NRCMS was associated with less delaying or foregoing medical care, as a reduction in foregoing needed care signals about removing liquidity constraint among the enrollees. Using a national sample of rural residents (N = 12,740) from the 2011-2012 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we examined the association between NRCMS coverage and the likelihood of delaying or foregoing medical care (outpatient and inpatient) by survey-weighted regression models controlling for demographics, education, geographic regions, household expenditures, pre-existing chronic diseases, and access to local healthcare facilities. Zero-inflated negative binomial model was used to estimate the association between NRCMS coverage and number of medical visits. NRCMS coverage was significantly associated with lower odds of delaying or foregoing inpatient care (OR: 0.42, 95% CI: 0.22-0.81). A negative but insignificant association was found between NRCMS coverage and delaying/foregoing outpatient care when ill. Among those who needed health care, the expected number of outpatient visits for NRCMS enrollees was 1.35 (95% CI: 1.03-1.77) times of those uninsured, and the expected number of inpatient visits for NRCMS enrollees was 1.83 (95% CI: 1.16-2.88) times of those uninsured. This study shows that the enhanced NRCMS coverage was associated with less delaying or foregoing inpatient care deemed as necessary by health professionals, which is likely to result from improved financial reimbursement of the NRCMS.

Age-period-cohort analysis of infectious disease mortality in urban-rural China, 1990-2010.

BackgroundAlthough a number of studies on infectious disease trends in China exist, these studies have not distinguished the age, period, and cohort effects simultaneously. Here, we analyze infectious disease mortality trends among urban and rural residents in China and distinguish the age, period, and cohort effects simultaneously.MethodsInfectious disease mortality rates (1990–2010) of urban and rural residents (5–84 years old) were obtained from the China Health Statistical Yearbook and analyzed with an age-period-cohort (APC) model based on Intrinsic Estimator (IE).ResultsInfectious disease mortality is relatively high at age group 5–9, reaches a minimum in adolescence (age group 10–19), then rises with age, with the growth rate gradually slowing down from approximately age 75. From 1990 to 2010, except for a slight rise among urban residents from 2000 to 2005, the mortality of Chinese residents experienced a substantial decline, though at a slower pace from 2005 to 2010. In contrast to the urban residents, rural residents experienced a rapid decline in mortality during 2000 to 2005. The mortality gap between urban and rural residents substantially narrowed during this period. Overall, later birth cohorts experienced lower infectious disease mortality risk. From the 1906–1910 to the 1941–1945 birth cohorts, the decrease of mortality among urban residents was significantly faster than that of subsequent birth cohorts and rural counterparts.ConclusionsWith the rapid aging of the Chinese population, the prevention and control of infectious disease in elderly people will present greater challenges. From 1990 to 2010, the infectious disease mortality of Chinese residents and the urban-rural disparity have experienced substantial declines. However, the re-emergence of previously prevalent diseases and the emergence of new infectious diseases created new challenges. It is necessary to further strengthen screening, immunization, and treatment for the elderly and for older cohorts at high risk.

我国草原牧区可持续发展的科学基础与实践

Great changes have taken place in the dietary structure of urban and rural residents in China since the country’s reform and opening starting from the end of 1970s. During the past three decades, grain consumption has reduced and animal food consumption has increased significantly, causing a sharply increased demand of forage. However, the country’s cropping structure has not been adjusted timely, resulting in a large number of grain to be used as forage. Although China has a grassland area of 4×10 8 hectares, which should play an important role in the country’s ecological security and food security, its forage grass and livestock production are considerably low, with different levels of degradation across the grasslands, so that it is far not satisfied with a need of animal husbandry development, because of its extensive management and less input of prataculture. Our analysis showed that developing artificial pasture, which grass yield can be more than 10 times higher than natural grassland, is an effective way to promote the production of forage grass in China. We thus developed the “animal-husbandry development” model, which uses a small area (less than 10% of the grassland) with high quality site to develop intensive artificial pasture to enhance forage grass production, and prevents a large area of the natural grassland (more than 90% of the grassland) from degradation and over-grazing. In order to implement “animal husbandry development” model, we proposed to construct an “eco-animal husbandry experimental zone” in the grassland areas. The “experimental zone” is planned and designed as a coupled system of nature-economy-society complex in a considerably large area, to promote production of artificial pasture and animal husbandry and improve ecological functioning of natural grassland. This paper also discusses the bottleneck issues about socio-economic development in pasturing areas, and proposed seven principles for the development of pasturing areas, including grass breeding, artificial grassland planting, efficient harvesting, efficient use of water, protection and better use of natural grassland, trade-off between grass production and ecological functioning, and system development.

Residential Environment Induced Preference Heterogeneity for River Ecosystem Service Improvements: A Comparison between Urban and Rural Households in the Wei River Basin, China

This paper assesses residential environment induced preference heterogeneity regarding ecosystem services improvements of a river basin by comparing urban and rural residents’ welfare estimates. In a choice experiment, the ecological improvements are described in terms of several observable ecological indicators set in an experimental design. Given the fact that economic and environmental conditions differ for urban and rural residents in China, the utility they derive from ecological restoration is hypothesized to differ. The urban and rural residents’ survey data were modeled separately using mixed logit models. The results reveal that water quality and water quantity, measured by unit of level improvement and percentage improvement, respectively, hold the highest marginal utility values in all respondents’ models. Urban and rural residents have the same preference regarding expanding soil erosion control areas and landscape improvement. However, they have statistically significant different utility for water quality, water quantity, forest coverage, ecotourism improvements, and reducing soil erosion intensity. Generally, urban residents express a higher implicit price for most of the ecological indicators. The findings imply that policy makers should take existing preference heterogeneity into account in designing ecosystem payment schemes and allocating resources.

The Comparison of Trust Structure between Urban and Rural Residents in China

Trust is an important form of social capital, it promotes the groups developing positively cooperation with each other, and has a closely relation with social economic development. Based on the data of China General Social Survey (CGSS) 2010, this article attempts to compare the difference of social trust structure between the urban and rural in China through three aspects: general trust, special trust and organizational trust. The result found out that the social networks and institutional environment of urban and rural are different, which leads to the development rate of social trust in the urban and rural is not synchronized, the rural residents’ trust level is higher than the city. And it seems that the city is apparently losing its own trust system to regulate people’s behavior and values while the whole society has the old and new trust system alternating. It is important to improve social trust of China, and establish a proper trust system for the modern economic development and social life. This article finally puts forward that we can improve institutional norm, popularize higher education and develop social autonomy organization to solve the problem.

Stress and alcohol use in rural Chinese residents: A moderated mediation model examining the roles of resilience and negative emotions

ObjectiveLittle research has been done on alcohol use and dependence among rural residents in China, a sub-population that might be under increased stress due to the rapid modernization and urbanization processes. We aimed to assess rural residents’ levels of stress, negative emotions, resilience, alcohol use/dependence and the complex relationships among them. MethodsSurvey data from a large random sample (n=1145, mean age=35.9, SD=7.7, 50.7% male) of rural residents in Wuhan, China were collected using Audio Computer-Assisted Self-Interview. ResultsThe sample had high prevalence of frequently perceived stress (47%) and high prevalence of ever (54.4%), past 30-day (40.4%), and binge drinking (13.8%). Approximately 11% met the criterion for intermediate to severe alcohol dependence. Mediation analysis indicated that the association between perceived stress (predictor) and alcohol dependence (outcome) was fully mediated by anxiety (indirect effect=.203, p<.01) and depression (indict effect=.158, p<.05); moderation analysis indicated that association between stress and two negative emotions (mediators) was significantly modified by resilience (moderator); an integrative moderated mediation analysis indicated that the indirect effect from stress to alcohol dependence through negative emotions was also moderated by resilience. ConclusionsNegative emotions play a key role in bridging stress and alcohol dependence, while resilience significantly buffers the impact of stress on depression, reducing the risk of alcohol dependence. Resilience training may be an effective component for alcohol intervention in rural China.

Linking health states to subjective well-being: an empirical study of 5854 rural residents in China

ObjectivesDespite a maturing literature on the association between subjective well-being (SWB) and health status of the general population in Western countries, little is known regarding the happiness–health relation in China, and rural populations in particular. This study was aimed to explore the correlation between SWB and health states of China's rural residents. Study designCross-sectional survey. MethodsData derived from a household survey conducted in 2010 with 5854 rural residents included. The single-item self-reported happiness measure used in the World Values Survey was employed to measure SWB. EQ-5D dimensions and visual analogue scale (VAS) were applied to measure subjective health status. The number of chronic diseases was used as proxy of objective health status. OLS regressions were performed to estimate the variation in SWB by health status and β coefficients were employed as effect size measures. ResultsAmong EQ-5D dimensions, anxiety/depression had the strongest negative effect on SWB. Having severe anxiety/depression problems could reduce SWB by 1.65 on a scale 1–4. Reporting severe problems in pain/discomfort could also reduce SWB by 0.41, while the impact of other dimensions was insignificant. The coefficient on VAS implied a difference in SWB of 1.60 between the worst health state and the best health state. And suffering from three chronic diseases could reduce SWB by 0.62, but the effect turned insignificant when all measures of subjective health status were entered in the regression. ConclusionsThe results from this study verify the strongly negative effect of the mental health dimension on SWB in the context of rural China. And suffering from chronic diseases has substantial negative effect on SWB even after subjective health status is controlled for. But the impact of chronic diseases on SWB could be fully captured when all measures of subjective health status are taken into account.

The GM(1,1) Model Optimized by Using Translation Transformation Method and Its Application of Rural Residents’ Consumption in China

AbstractConventional GM(1,1) model shows some limitations which affect directly to the model applicability as well as prediction accuracy. In order to improve the disadvantages existing in the original grey model, the authors analyze the translation transformation approach to optimize the raw sequence for grey modeling. This paper mainly carries on the proof of the existence of translation transformation from the perspective of smooth ratio and gives the method to solve the best step size of translation transformation. Then, the authors applied the grey models optimized by translation transformation to analyze the problem of the consumption of rural residents in China. As a result, the authors find GM(1,1) model optimized by translation transformation has characteristics of higher accuracy and simple calculation process and an important practical application in residents consumption.