Research On The Influence Of Informal Support On The Health Of The Elderly In Rural China

Under the new era of China’s continuous improvement of comprehensive national strength and changes in major social contradictions,the degree of population aging is also deepening,and the changes in family structure have gradually weakened the function of family support.Especially in rural areas where the population aging problem is more severe,the reduction of family size,the large number of young laborers going out to work,and the relatively low level of social security service supply have made the health and old-age care of the elderly population a social and academic focus.At present,family support is still the most important form of old-age care for the elderly.It is necessary to explore the impact of inform support on the health of the elderly.In general,children can improve the health of the elderly by providing different forms of support.However,the effects of different forms of support on the health of the elderly may be different.The different individual characteristics and living environment of the elderly may also affect the effect of the children’s care.And there is no consensus on the relevant research.Based on the literature research and the actual situation,this paper uses the data of China Family Panel Studies in 2016 to summarize the current situation of the elderly health and the support from their children,uses the binary probit model to analyze the impact and specific influence level of different kinds of support on the health of rural elderly population,and further analyzes the substitution or promotion between different forms of support.The propensity score matching method(PSM)is used to test the robustness of the regression results and reduce the endogeneity of the model.Finally,the heterogeneity of the impact of inform support on the health of the elderly is analyzed.The main conclusions of this paper are as follows: First,the financial support of children will reduce the physiological health of the elderly,but it can improve the mental health of the elderly.Second,the children’s life care has a significant negative impact on the physical health of the elderly.However,only the average treatment effect of the kernel test method in the PSM test is significant.The neighbor matching and radius matching methods show that the negative impact of the children’s care on the physiological health of the elderly is not significant.Compared with those who do not get life support form children,the elderly people who have children’s life support are more likely to respond positively.Third,the negative impact of children’s life support on the physical health of the elderly is less than the financial support of the children.The financial support of the children is more likely to improve the mental health of the elderly than the children’s life support.And there is an alternative utility when the two work together.Fourth,elderly people with different genders,ages,disability and working conditions have different health sensitivities to their children’s support.The impact of children’s care on the health of the elderly is heterogeneous.According to the research conclusions,it is known that the children’s support has an important impact on the health and the pension quality of the elderly.Therefore,it is necessary to recognize the functional role of children’s support from the perspectiveof legislation and policy support,to meet the health needs of the elderly from the perspective of supply and demand balance,to improve the health of the elderly from the perspective of active and healthy aging,and to select reasonable healthy old-age model for the elderly from the perspective of substitution and complementarity.