The Impact Of Family Structure On The Health Of The Elderly

China is now confronted with great challenges brought by the aging of population. The large scale of aging population and the increasing average life expectancy have brought huge impact on social security. On the one hand, the consistent deepening aging population has caused greater government expenditure on the pension. It is difficult to meet the needs of the pension expenditure only by the endowment insurance system at present, which will cause heavy fiscal burden. On the other hand, the increasing life expectancy means that it needs more health care services, which will cause heavy medical burden. Obviously, the health level of the elderly population is not only concerned with the life quality of old individuals, but also matters whether finance has the ability to bear the burden of social pension. It even has a bearing on the entire country's economic development and stability.China's National Conditions shows that our national strength is still insufficient to support social security only depending on the social security system. The family is still an important complement to pension support. In that way, what are the factors affecting the health of the aged in a family? This paper will focus on the influences of family structure on the health of the elderly, and propose some countermeasures to secure and improve the health level of the elderly.This paper first reviewed the relevant research results both at home and abroad to define the concepts of family structure and health, and analyzed the mechanism of the family structure affecting on the old individuals health from 3 aspects of marital status, living arrangements and the number of children. Afterwards, this paper analyzed the change trends of China's family structure and health from a macro point of view, and analyzed the sample of respondents' family structure and health status from a micro point of view at the same time. Subsequently, based on 2011 data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey(CHARLS), after controlling for other relevant variables, this paper empirically tested the effects of family structure on the health of the elderly, and compared the results from gender, urban and rural areas. The study has found out the following results:(1)The full sample analysis showed that the number of children has a significantly negative influence on the health of the elderly, living with their children has a significantly positive effect on the health of the elderly, and marriage has a positive effect on the health of the elderly,but not significant.(2)Regression analysis by gender showed that marriage has a significant positive effect on the health of elderly male, while it is not significant on elderly female. The number of children has a significant negative effect on the health of elderly female, while it is not significant on elderly male. Living with their children has a significant positive effect on the health of elderly male,while it is not significant on elderly female.(3)The regression analysis by urban and rural areas showed that marriage has a positive effect on the elderly health in both urban and rural areas, but not significant. The number of children has a significant negative effect on urban elderly,while the effect on rural elderly is not significant. Living with children has a significant positive effect on urban elderly, while the effect on rural elderly is not significant. Finally, this paper has put forward corresponding policy proposals according to the findings.