| With the increase of the size of China’s elderly population and the intensification of aging,the health problems of the elderly,especially mental health problems,have increasingly become the focus of attention.For a long time,China has followed the traditional family pension culture and thought,and home care has always been the mainstream of the way of providing for the elderly.However,with the development of the economy,the change of people’s concepts and family structure,the living style of the elderly in China has shown diversified characteristics,and more and more elderly people have become "empty nest" elderly,which will also have an impact on the physical and mental health of the elderly.In order to implement the national strategy of actively coping with the aging of the population,strengthen the work of aging in the new era,and enhance the sense of gain,happiness and security of the elderly,the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council put forward the "Opinions on Encouraging Adult Children to Live nearby or Together with Elderly Parents,Perform Maintenance Obligations,and Assume Care Responsibilities".It is intended to alleviate the problem of empty-nest elderly families by returning to traditional intergenerational co-living.Therefore,the question concerned in this thesis is whether intergenerational cohabitation can effectively promote the mental health of elderly people compared with empty-nesters.Different from previous studies,this thesis jumps out of the binary choice of intergenerational cohabitation and innovatively changes into intergenerational cohabitation duration.In fact,compared with intergenerational cohabitation,residence duration can more accurately describe intergenerational cohabitation behavior,and it can test whether there is a non-linear relationship between residence duration and the mental health of the elderly,that is,whether there is a turning point or threshold effect.In addition,this thesis will further discuss the mechanism of the correlation between residence duration and mental health in old age.In order to answer the above questions,based on the data of China Health and Pension Tracking Survey in 2018,this thesis first evaluated the effect of residence length on the mental health level of the elderly,and tested the robustness of the results by various methods.On this basis,the mechanism behind it was discussed and the heterogeneity was analyzed.The study found that intergenerational living duration has a significant promoting effect on the mental health level of the elderly,and there is no inverted "U" shaped nonlinear relationship,the longer the living duration,the more beneficial to the mental health of the elderly.A series of robustness tests confirm the reliability of this research result.Heterogeneity analysis showed that the effect of residence duration on the mental health level of the elderly was different between regions and individuals.Residence duration could significantly improve the mental health level of the elderly in rural areas,western areas and female areas,but had no significant effect on the mental health level of the elderly in urban areas,eastern central areas and male areas.In terms of marital status,residence duration has a significant positive effect on the mental health level of both male and female elderly,but the positive effect on the mental health level of unmarried elderly is stronger than that of married elderly.Mechanism analysis shows that intergenerational cohabitation affects the mental health of the elderly by increasing the frequency of social participation and getting more economic support from children.At the same time,in order to better and effectively implement the intergenerational cohabitation policy proposed by the central government,this thesis briefly expanded and analyzed the influence of intergenerational cohabitation on children,and evaluated the influence effect based on children’s income.The results showed that the length of residence had a significant inhibitory effect on children’s income.This seems to be contrary to the encouragement policy of intergenerational living.However,this part of the argument is not intended to oppose intergenerational living,but to explain that in the process of promoting the implementation of this policy,the "bilateral" influences of parents and children should be comprehensively considered,so as to promote the positive effect of intergenerational living while minimizing the negative effect.For example,the form of "co-living subsidy" can make up for the decrease of children’s income.And effectively promote intergenerational cohabitation.Based on the above conclusions,this thesis puts forward the following suggestions:(1)carry forward the culture of filial piety,respond to the call of the central government,encourage intergenerational living together,reduce the problem of empty nest old age,and improve the health level of old age;(2)Improve the policy to provide convenience for the "old Floating nationality" who live in other places due to their children’s work;(3)Give full play to the role of the community in the process of healthy aging,promote the effective connection between "home care" and "community care",and promote intergenerational living;(4)Comprehensively considering the "bilateral" impact of intergenerational living,relevant supplementary policies should be introduced to support the children to better accept intergenerational living,reduce the impact of intergenerational living on children’s income,and enhance the "bilateral" effect of intergenerational living. |
