Subjective Well-being In China Research Articles

Income, aging, and the gendered patterns of wellness: Physical health and subjective well-being in China

This article investigates the impact of demographic and socioeconomic inequalities on wellness, composed of both physical health and subjective well-being. We examine how gender inequality moderates the joint effects of aging and income on wellness in China. Utilizing generalized linear mixed model (GLMM), we analyze data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) spanning from 2003 to 2021. Our results reveal that income inequality disproportionately affects physical health among older, underweight, lower-class females; males are more susceptible to negative impacts on subjective well-being, particularly among lower-class, middle-aged males. These gendered patterns are situated in the contemporary Chinese society and are explained in relation to intra-household distributional inequality and the gender role expectations in the Confucian culture. We also discussed the policy implications of how to reduce the gaps in wellness across social classes, age cohorts, and genders.

Impact of filial piety on residents' subjective well-being in China considering the moderating effect of income level.

Subjective well-being (SWB) reflects an individual's subjective evaluation of overall life satisfaction and healthcare situation. As one of the most important concepts in traditional Chinese culture, filial piety refers to an ancient and significant ethical concept that originates from traditional Chinese culture. Filial piety emphasizes the respect, care, and filial devotion of children towards their parents, and has a complex influence on SWB. Moreover, in the context of rapid economic development, an individual's income level significantly moderates the influence of filial piety. Revealing the influence of different types of filial piety on SWB is of great significance for enhancing residents' SWB. However, existing studies rarely touch upon this topic. Therefore, this paper focuses on the 7 kinds of filial piety, establishes an ordered logit model based on the data from the China General Social Survey, and analyzes the influence of these 7 kinds of filial piety on SWB. On this basis, this study analyzes the moderating effect of income level. Finally, it further analyzes the regional heterogeneity of China in the influence of filial piety. Concepts such as constant respect for father's authority, enhancing parents' honor, and bearing sons for the purpose of lineage continuity, have negative impact on SWB. Superior economic conditions can neutralize and salvage these concepts to a certain extent, but they are ultimately negative. In regions with a minority population such as the 4 northeastern provinces, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, and Xinjiang, these concepts can increase SWB, which is restricted by the local economic level and might just be a transitional form of insufficient development. appreciating the kindness of upbringing; treating parents well under any circumstances; giving up personal ambitions to fulfill parents' wishes, positively influence individual SWB, especially when income is substantial. The research results indicate that different type of filial piety has different impacts on SWB; income level has a significant moderating effect; and there are significant regional heterogeneities in the influence of filial piety. The results of this study provide a theoretical basis and reference for enhancing residents' SWB.

Entrepreneurship and subjective wellbeing in China: Exploring linkages and potential channels

We analyse the effect of entrepreneurship on subjective wellbeing in China. To do so, we use four waves of the nationally representative China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) longitudinal survey data. Employing a suite of quasi-experimental analytical procedures, we find that being an entrepreneur increases subjective wellbeing in China. Our estimates suggest that being an entrepreneur results in a 0.46 standard deviation higher subjective wellbeing than not being an entrepreneur. This finding is robust to different quasi-experimental methods. We also find that entrepreneurship enhances subjective wellbeing more among males and rural residents. Results on mediation analysis suggests that social and economic status are important channels through which entrepreneurship influences subjective wellbeing.

Parental Warmth and Children’s Subjective Well-Being in China: the Indirect Effect of Parent–Child Relationship

Parental Warmth and Children’s Subjective Well-Being in China: the Indirect Effect of Parent–Child Relationship

Impact of informal caregiving on caregivers’ subjective well-being in China: a longitudinal study

BackgroundWhile informal caregiving is crucial for improving and maintaining health of the elderly, there is limited evidence of its potential effect on caregivers’ wellbeing. Understanding this effect is important for policy makers to design effective long-term care policies. This longitudinal study aims to investigate the impact of informal caregiving on caregivers’ subjective wellbeing in China.MethodsThree waves (2016, 2018, 2020) of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) are constructed for empirical analysis. Ordered logit model is first used to estimate the effect. Fixed effects ordered logit model and mixed effects ordered logit model are further employed to control for the possible bias from unobserved individual heterogeneity.ResultsInformal caregiving significantly reduces caregivers’ subjective wellbeing and the negative effect is stronger for high-frequency caregivers. Subgroup analysis reveals that informal caregiving imposed greater negative impacts on women, those living in rural areas, being married, working, and living separately from parents. Further analysis of mechanism indicates that decrease in wage income, leisure and sleep time were channels through which informal caregiving affects caregivers’ well-being.ConclusionWhen policy makers formulate sustainable long-term care policies and home support services, interventions to improve caregivers’ stress-coping skills and ensure their engagement in leisure and social activities could be adopted to mitigate the negative effects on caregivers’ subjective well-being.

Energy affordability and subjective well-being in China: Causal inference, heterogeneity, and the mediating role of disaster risk

This paper examines how energy affordability affects the subjective happiness of Chinese households in the face of an extreme event that could affect the energy industry. We use two waves of nationally representative survey data to examine the variation in subjective happiness with the level of energy affordability. The results suggest that worsening energy affordability reduces household happiness. We also present robust evidence that energy affordability is also associated with where energy is sourced. We further show that this nexus is heterogeneous in that Eastern China households sense energy affordability as the key determinant of happiness. The perceived risk of extreme events moderates a household's subjective well-being when considering energy affordability. Our results call for a targeted approach to re-allocate economic benefits for alleviating energy poverty.

Satisfaction with community public services, social support, and subjective well-being in China

Satisfaction with community public services reflects the quality of public services in communities, which is important for residentsâ–™ well-being. We collected data in China through a survey, and regression analyses were used to test our hypotheses. Results from 1,112 residents show that satisfaction with community public services is positively related to subjective well-being, and social support h as a mediating effect on the relationship between satisfaction With community public services and subjective well-being. Findings of this study provide a culture-specific and geographical perspective of community public services and subjective well-being, and highlight the importance of wellbeing in community studies.

Social Quality and Residents’ Subjective Well-Being in China—An Empirical Analysis Based on CSS2021 Data

Happiness is the eternal pursuit of human beings, and subjective well-being is an essential indicator for evaluating happiness. Research on subjective well-being mainly focuses on material, economic, and psychological factors, and there is insufficient research on the impact of social factors on subjective well-being. Focusing on the influence of social factors on subjective well-being can help us better understand the “Easterlin Paradox”. Based on the theoretical model of social quality, this paper analyzes the influence of the current Chinese social quality on Chinese people’s subjective well-being using the data from the China Social Survey 2021 (CSS2021). It is found that the higher the social quality, the stronger the people’s subjective well-being, and this conclusion is stable for different groups. By dimension, socio-economic security, social cohesion, and social inclusion significantly affect people’s subjective well-being, but social empowerment does not significantly affect subjective well-being. This paper provides new evidence to explore the impact of social quality on people’s well-being.

Does targeted poverty alleviation policy lead to happy life? Evidence from rural China

Based on 2013–2019 data from the China Household Finance Survey, we used the difference-in-differences method to systematically and quantitatively analyze the relationship between a targeted poverty alleviation policy and the rural poor's subjective well-being in China. The results showed that the targeted poverty alleviation policy has a spillover effect of improving rural poor households' happiness. Mechanism analysis found that the increment of both material and non-material welfare dimensions, as well as the building of positive attitudes during the process of policy implementation improve the rural poor's happiness status. Heterogeneity analysis shows that “hematopoietic” poverty alleviation policies have significant effects on the subjective well-being of all poor households, while “blood transfusion” policies have more significant effects on the subjective well-being of poverty caused by illness and old age.

The Relationship Between Deaf Adolescents’ Empathy and Subjective Well-Being in China During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Inconsistent Role of Peer Support and Teacher Support

The Relationship Between Deaf Adolescents’ Empathy and Subjective Well-Being in China During COVID-19 Pandemic: The Inconsistent Role of Peer Support and Teacher Support

IMPACTS OF CONSUMER EXPENDITURE PATTERNS ON SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING IN CHINA: EVIDENCE FROM MICROSURVEY DATA

The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of consumer expenditure patterns, rather than categories, on subjective well-being (SWB) in China. This study adopts microsurvey data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) and performs cluster analysis to form household consumer expenditure patterns for five burdens. The primary finding is that consumer expenditure patterns as well as consumer characteristics can significantly affect Chinese people’s SWB. However, the results from using consumer expenditure categories as explanatory variables are not reliable due to inconsistent results from using the amount and ratio of consumption expenditure. The conclusions regarding the influences of consumer expenditure patterns on Chinese people’s SWB are, nevertheless, robust.

Urban and individual correlates of subjective well-being in China: An application of gradient boosting decision trees.

Subjective well-being (SWB) is attributable to both individual and environmental attributes. However, extant studies have paid little attention to the contribution of environmental attributes at the urban level to SWB or their nonlinear associations with SWB. This study applies a machine learning approach called gradient boosting decision trees (GBDTs) to the 2013 China Household Income Survey data to investigate the relative importance of urban and individual attributes to and their nonlinear associations with SWB. The urban and individual attributes make similar relative contributions to SWB. Income and age are the most important predictors. Urban facilities make a larger contribution than urban development factors. Moreover, urban attributes exert nonlinear and threshold effects on SWB. Cultural facilities and green space have inverted U-shaped correlations with SWB. Educational facilities, medical facilities, and population size are monotonically associated with SWB and have specific thresholds. Improving urban attributes is important to enhancing residents' SWB.

Did COVID-19 affect rural households’ subjective well-being? A social survey from rural China

Improving rural households' subjective well-being is an important element of economic and social revitalization in the post-epidemic period. Based on the survey data obtained from rural households in Hubei Province, the center of the outbreak in China, and its surrounding areas, this paper explores the impact mechanisms of the COVID-19 epidemic on subjective well-being from both economic and sociological perspectives with the help of structural equation modeling. The results show that COVID-19 significantly influenced rural households' subjective well-being in China. Furthermore, COVID-19 indirectly affected their subjective well-being by influencing optimism. The negative impact is moderated by government intervention and income resilience. Therefore, strengthening the emergency management capacity of local governments and encouraging the diversification of rural households’ income sources are important strategies to effectively resolve epidemic shocks and improve the level of well-being.

Public sector jobs and subjective well-being in China

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on demonstrating the nexus between public sector jobs and subjective well-being by applying China Household Finance Survey data and exploring the potential transmission channels behind the connection. An instrumental variable and the propensity score matching methods are utilized to address hidden endogeneity bias. Our findings confirm that Chinese public sector jobs have a constructive effect on SWB. From the perspective of work allowance and marriage-matching, mechanism analysis justifies that working inside the system indirectly affects SWB through receiving higher annual bonuses and marrying people who also work within the system or have a higher education level.

Online Education and Subjective Well-Being in China: Multiple Mediating Roles of Social Class Mobility and Social Tolerance

(1) Background: Online education has developed into a new form of education. However, the relationship between online education and subjective well-being has seldom been extensively studied in the literature. Thus, this study provides quantitative evidence regarding the effect of online education on subjective well-being. (2) Objective: The objective of this study was to reveal the net effect of online education on subjective well-being and explore the mediating roles of social class mobility and social tolerance between online education and subjective well-being. (3) Methods: Based on the 2019 China Comprehensive Social Survey data, the “counterfactual framework” was constructed using the propensity score matching method, and 1029 matched samples were analyzed. (4) Results: Online education is significantly positively correlated with subjective well-being (average treatment effect on the treated, ATT = 0.189, p < 0.01). Social class mobility and social tolerance serially mediate the relationship of online education and subjective well-being (the intermediary role of social class mobility is 0.0163; the mediating role of social tolerance is 0.0064). (5) Conclusion: This study confirms the positive predictive effect of online education on subjective well-being and affirms the multiple mediating roles of social class mobility and social tolerance between online education and subjective well-being.

Illusory Sun: Folk Beliefs and Subjective Well-being in China

Illusory Sun: Folk Beliefs and Subjective Well-being in China

Physical Exercise, Social Capital, Hope, and Subjective Well-Being in China: A Parallel Mediation Analysis.

Based on data from the 2017 China General Social Survey, a conditional process analysis was conducted to explore the association between physical exercise and subjective well-being, as well as the parallel mediating effect of social networks and a sense of hope. The results showed that physical exercise had a significant positive predictive effect on the participants' subjective well-being. Furthermore, social networks and a sense of hope mediated the association between physical exercise and subjective well-being. Physical exercise indirectly promoted subjective well-being by enhancing social networks and a sense of hope. However, the indirect effect of a sense of hope on the association between physical exercise and subjective well-being was greater than that of social networks. The results of this study revealed the internal mechanism of the effect of participation in physical exercise on the improvement of subjective well-being, which is of great significance for formulating relevant policies and plans to further improve Chinese residents' well-being.

Grandparenting and subjective well-being in China: The moderating effects of residential location, gender, age, and income

Grandparenting is a social determinant of older adults' subjective well-being (SWB) worldwide, and is receiving increasing scholarly attention. Grandparenting is particularly prevalent in China because of the increasing number of women in the labor force, shortages of daycare services, and intergenerational bonds. Based on three waves (2011, 2013, and 2015) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (n = 14,846), we used pooled ordinary least squares (POLS) regression to examine the association between grandparenting and Chinese older adults' SWB and the moderating effects of residential location (rural/urban), gender, age, and income. We measured SWB by four outcomes: self-rated health, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and cognitive function. Our findings indicate that intensive grandparenting is positively associated with older adults' life satisfaction. Older adults providing a low-to-high intensity of grandparenting have better cognitive function than non-caregivers. Among caregivers, a moderate level of grandparenting is associated with better cognitive function. Residential location, age, and income are significant moderators. For example, high-intensity grandparenting is positively associated with rural grandparents' but not urban grandparents' life satisfaction. Although younger grandparents have better self-rated health, higher life satisfaction, and fewer depressive symptoms than their older counterparts if they provide grandparenting care, grandparenting is more beneficial for older grandparents’ cognitive function. Both low and high intensities of grandparenting are positively related to self-rated health and cognitive function for grandparents with lower incomes. Overall, the findings of this study indicate how grandparenting is related to the SWB of older people in China in different social groups and of people living in different locations.

Changes of medical staffs' subjective well-being in China (2004-2020): A cross-temporal meta-analysis.

Subjective well-being is a crucial index measuring the mental health of medical staffs, and it is necessary to examine the changes in subjective well-being (SWB) level of Chinese medical staffs with time. A cross-temporal meta-analysis was performed using papers that measured the SWB level of Chinese medical staffs between 2004 and 2020. Moreover, a time-lag analysis was conducted to define whether the macro-social indicators can explain the changes in SWB. A total of 47 papers were included in the final sample. The results revealed that score of SWB was significantly negatively correlated with the year. Score of SWB was significantly associated with six social indicators of economic condition (the residents' consumption level, housing prices, and old-age dependency ratio), social connectedness (the divorce rate and the urbanization level), and overall threat (the crime rate), which indicated that social change may account for the decline of Chinese medical staffs' SWB level. Our study revealed a decreasing trend of Chinese medical staffs' SWB level over time, which was associated with macro-social changes in diverse areas. In addition, combined with the corresponding macro-social indicators, a three-dimensional theoretical framework is proposed to explain the SWB for medical staffs as a group.

The Impact of Different Levels of Income Inequality on Subjective Well-Being in China: A Panel Data Analysis

Income inequality is one of the most serious issues globally and China is the representative examples of this issue. Income inequality remains high in China and may negatively affects subjective well-being. This study clarifies whether income inequality affects subjective well-being in China. Using five waves of the 2010-2018 data from China Family Panel Studies, a panel data analysis reveals the following: First, general income inequality measured by provincial Gini coefficients has a significant U-shaped impact. Second, between-group income inequality, measured as income ratio between urban hukou residents and migrants with rural hukou, has a significant U-shaped impact. Third, urban-rural income inequality measured by provincial urban to rural household per capita income ratio has an inverted-U-shaped impact. To address endogeneity problems of income inequality, this study adopts instrumental variable approach. For the further robustness checks of the validity of the instrumental variable used, this study adopts the recent Conley et al. (2012) bounds approach. Our results are robust after addressing endogeneity problem. One important policy implication stemming from our results is the need to adopt strategies that ensure a more inclusive society without hukou-related and urban–rural discrimination.