Research On The Influence Of Social Support On Health Level Of The Elderly In Urban And Rural Areas

Aging is the life stage that every individual must pass.Aging means the decline of the body's function,the decline of labor ability and the weakening of thinking ability.Corresponding to aging is the need of people for health.Health is the inevitable goal of human development.As the ageing of the population continues to increase,it is an inevitable trend that life expectancy is constantly increasing.However,the prolonged life expectancy does not mean that it is spent in a healthy state.That is,“live longer” does not mean “live well”.Therefore,the elderly's health issues deserve attention.As China's urban and rural areas are a broken society,there are huge differences in resource allocation,social welfare,and social support for the elderly in urban and rural areas,which may affect the health of the elderly.This article mainly uses the 2013 China Health and Elderly Care Survey data(charls)to conduct an empirical study,and select urban and rural elderly people over the age of 60 as the research object to analyze the social support of elderly people in urban and rural areas and the possible impact on the health of the elderly.First,three dimensional variables(physical health,self-rated health,self-rated mental health)were synthesized by factor analysis from five variables.According to the three dimensions of different weights and finally integrated into a comprehensive variable to represent the health levels of the elderly;Then,cross-tabulations and T-tests are used to analyze the social support of urban and rural elders from formal support and informal support.Finally,multiple linear regression analysis is used to analyze the impact of social support on the health of urban and rural residents and the differences between urban and rural areas,and to explore the possible causes of differences,and analyze the relationship between formal support and informal support in the process of affecting the health of the elderly? The empirical test results are as follows:First,there is a significant difference in the health level of the elderly in both urban and rural areas.The overall health of the urban elderly is better than that of the rural elderly.Second,there are differences in the level of social support for urban and rural elders.In formal support,due to differences in the implementation time of urban and rural endowment insurance and medical insurance,as well as problems in the system itself,there are differences in the rates of social insurance participation between urban and rural elders.In informal support,older rural people are more dependent on intergenerational support within the family than urban elderly.Third,social support has a “power increase effect” on the health of urban and rural elders.As a whole,both formal support and informal support act synergistically to jointly promote the development of the health of the elderly in both urban and rural areas.Specifically,the health level of the elderly in rural areas is more dependent on informal support,and the official support for the health of the elderly in urban areas is greater than that of the rural elderly.Through exploring factors affecting the health of the elderly and excavating the causes,several suggestions are made for the conclusions.First,a fair and unified urban and rural pension insurance and medical insurance system covering all people should be established as soon as possible to improve the construction of a formal social support system.Second,strengthen the establishment of informal social support systems by forming good intergenerational relationships within the family and establishing community service facilities in the community.Third,promote the integration of formal support and informal support in order to better play a role in promoting the development of the health of the elderly in urban and rural areas,and achieve the goal of healthy aging.