Do More Children Bring More Happiness?

As more and more countries fall into the dilemma of aging populations,China is also inevitably starting to face serious aging problems.The influence of family planning policy and the transition of people's concept of bearing have led to the gradual miniaturization of the family structure so that the pressure of supporting the aged is increasing and the empty nest of the elderly is becoming a normal state.The family pension function is weakening gradually.In order to relieve the pressure on adult children of support the aged,social supports for the aged,including nursing houses,are strengthened and listed as an important object.However,traditional Chinese culture has influenced Chinese people for quite a long time so that most of the elderly in China have a fondness of living at home,getting support from family members.Thus,passive choices of institutions can't be avoided.In 2016,China relaxed the one-child policy,announcing that every couple will be allowed to bear two children to relieve the pressure of supporting the old and increase the amount of inter-generational support which the elderly parents can get.However,the enhancement of social endowment resources,welfare system and other related factors has had an impact on the concept of endowment in the whole society.Whether the two-child policy can be effective in increasing the upstream inter-generational supports to the elderly parents is worth a research.In this context,this article verifies whether the number of the children can affect the inter-generational supports from children and the pension mode of the urban aged,discussing the modern significance of the saying”more children,more happiness”.Based on the data of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey in 2014,this paper analyzes and discusses the characteristic of the widowed elderly,general condition of the urban elderly's pension mode,their children's inter-generational support in China,as well as the differences between different groups.Part five uses the logit model,doing regression analysis to the urban elderly's pension mode and the number of children.Moreover,the paper instructs the inter-generational support from children as the mediating variable and discusses its intermediary effect between the number of children and the elderly's pension mode.The results show that the number of children has a significant positive impact on economic support,emotional support and care support.An increase in the number of children can significantly reduce the probability of being institutionalized for an elderly.In addition,the robust test showsthat no matter the increasing child is a girl or a boy,the influence is significant and almost the same.As for other relating factors,men are more likely to choose to stay in the elderly institutions than women.The aged with ADL or MMSE problems have a higher probability to be institutionalized.Those with better financial conditions are more likely to choose a nursing house.According to the results of the research,this paper proposes that the two-child policy should be promoted more actively,and the widowed elderly should be encouraged to find a spouse.Moreover,the government is supposed to provide more financial subsidies to the institutions,as well as better welfare to the aged in the family with only one or even without a child.Besides,the society should guide the elderly to establish a correct concept of pension...