The Impact Of Social Participation Of Empty Nesters On Their Health

Under the background of China’s aging population,fewer children in families and economic modernization,a large number of young people prefer to live alone after working or starting a family,which leads to an increasing number of empty-nesters.The problem caused by "empty nest" is not only a personal and family problem,but also a social problem that the whole society needs to focus on and solve.A long and healthy life is a hallmark of human civilization and a necessary condition for people to pursue a better and happy life.At the same time,good health is an important basis for the empty-nesters to achieve "something to do for old age","something to support old age" and "something to enjoy in old age",as well as a basic element for sharing the fruits of reform and development and enjoying a happy old age.Therefore,the society,families and individuals should actively respond to the implementation of healthy aging and active aging strategy,encourage and guide the empty-nesters to actively participate in and integrate into social activities,which is an important measure to deal with the challenges of aging society and realize the construction of a healthy China.By combing previous research literature and analyzing relevant theories,this paper focuses on analyzing the influence of different types of social participation on the health of empty-nesters and its internal mechanism,and explores feasible coping strategies and suggestions from the perspectives of society,family and individuals.This paper is based on the theory of social role,the activity theory of the elderly,the continuity theory of the elderly and Maslow’s needs theory,and the theoretical analysis framework of the transfer effect of social participation under the micro-paradigm.Using the data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey 2018(CHARLS2018),multiple linear regression model and mediation effect model,to study the influence and internal mechanism of empty nesters on their health status through social participation.In addition,this paper uses instrumental variable method and data replacement method to solve the potential endogeneity and robustness in the model estimation,so as to obtain a more real health promotion effect of social participation of empty-nesters.This paper also studies whether the impact of social participation on the health of empty-nesters is significantly heterogeneous with different gender,age and residence.In the process of variable selection,three indicators of physical health,mental health and social integrity are selected to measure the health status of empty-nesters,which can ensure the relative comprehensiveness of the health measurement of empty-nesters to some extent.The main research conclusions and views are as follows:First,the empty-nesters have a lower level of social participation and a higher overall level of health,but a higher proportion of chronic diseases.The elderly empty-nesters mainly participate in social activities and family activities.Only part of them choose to participate in economic activities,and the proportion of them choose to participate in voluntary activities is lower.The proportion of empty-nesters suffering from chronic diseases accounts for about 1/5 of the sample data,which indicates that empty-nesters are more likely to suffer from chronic diseases.Regardless of other influencing factors,empty-nesters with social participation were more likely to have good health than empty-nesters without social participation.Second,different types of social participation have different effects on the health promotion of empty-nesters,and the effects of social participation on the health of empty-nesters show significant heterogeneity due to gender,age and residence.Economic participation,social participation and family participation can improve the health level of empty-nesters in different degrees,but the health promotion effect of voluntary participation is not obvious.Economic participation,social participation and family participation have significant health promotion effects on the younger empty-nesters,but do not have significant health promotion effects on the older empty-nesters.Economic participation,social participation and family participation can improve the health status of empty-nesters in urban and rural areas,but the health level of empty-nesters in urban and rural areas is more important.Social participation has a significant promoting effect on the health of both male and female empty-nesters,while economic participation and family participation only have a significant effect on the health of male and female empty-nesters respectively.In addition,cognitive ability can also positively affect the health level of empty nesters,and plays a significant mediating role in the process of social participation affecting the health of empty nesters.Thirdly,by comparing the results estimated by multiple linear regression model and the results estimated by causal inference model,it can be found that linear estimation method without considering endogeneity usually overestimates the degree of influence of social participation on the health of empty nesters,resulting in more false positive estimation results.The reason may be that those empty-nesters with positive traits are more likely to participate in social activities,and the health status of this group may also be relatively better.The endogenous confounding brought by such positive selection will expand the promotion effect of empty-nesters on their health through social participation.Therefore,the study on the relationship between social participation and health of empty-nesters needs to pay attention to and deal with endogeneity.Through the empirical research results of the econometric model,it can be found that different types of social participation have different effects on the health of empty-nesters.Therefore,it is necessary to effectively improve the health and social participation level of empty-nesters at the social,family and individual levels.At the social level,good material and spiritual conditions should be created for the social participation of empty-nesters,and perfect policies,regulations and system guarantees should be constructed.At the family level,family members should improve their awareness of the elderly’s social participation and actively create an environment for the empty-nesters’ social participation.Individual level should maintain a modern lifestyle and learning style,according to their own conditions,interests and abilities to actively go out of the house,participate in a variety of social activities.