The Study On Happiness Of The Elderly In China And Japan,Along With The Social Work Service

Aging population is a universal phenomenon.Regardless of whether in China or in Japan,the elderly have already become a large group and caused a lot of social issues.Based on the anticipation of gerontological social work,scholars from various countries have turned their attention to well-being.As is known to all,East Asian countries like China and Japan have similar race and culture.But in these two countries,social psychology and behavior patterns of residents are different.Meanwhile,Japan's modernization,especially the development of pension is also faster than China's.So,conducting a comparative study can make China learn more institutional experience,and then further improve the existing pension service system.This study reviewed the literature on well-being,social capital,social networks and geriatric social work,discussed the influence factors of the elderly happiness from the international comparative perspective and focused on the practice of geriatric social work in the future.Based on the theories of social capital and so on,this study used the general social survey data of China and Japan in 2012 to analyze.According to the results,self-rated health,social class and social trust will affect the well-being of the elderly in China and Japan.Besides,the Chinese elderly who live in the city,having the pension,having more education time and more relatives kept in touch as well as the Japanese elderly who have more children,being more active in community activities will be happier.Based on the literature and data analysis,two assumptions are also confirmed.First,social capital and social network is very important to the mental health of the elderly.The more closely communicate with relatives,the happier the elderly will be.Then,the elderly in the two countries will get support in different ways.Chinese senior citizens prefer traditional ways and tend to get support from relatives,while Japanese senior citizens prefer modern ways and tend to get support from the community.In addition,it is can be learnt that gerontological social work will be deepened in three ways in the future.(I)Help the elderly develop strong relationships with their relatives.(2)Enhance community involvement and creat a strong sense of communal identity among the elderly.(3)Implement and advocate old-supporting policies.This study gives a primary development of the international research on well-being and gerontological social work.However,it couldn't cover this subject thoroughly because it is hard to collect the international data and explain the concepts.Further research will continue in the future.