Association between Socioeconomic Status, Physical Health and Need for Long-Term Care among the Chinese Elderly

Fanlei Kong, Lingzhong Xu, Mei Kong, Shixue Li, Chengchao Zhou, Jianghua Zhang and Bin Ai
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Fanlei Kong: NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan 250012, China
Lingzhong Xu: NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan 250012, China
Mei Kong: Research Center of Economics and Resource Management, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
Shixue Li: NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan 250012, China
Chengchao Zhou: NHC Key Laboratory of Health Economics and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Shandong University, 44 Wenhuaxi Road, Jinan 250012, China
Jianghua Zhang: School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan 250100, China
Bin Ai: School of Ethnology and Sociology, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 12, 1-19

Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES), physical health and the need for long-term care (NLTC) of the Chinese elderly, and further, to provide evidence-based advice for establishing an LTC system in China. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in Shandong Province, China in 2017 by using multi-stage random sampling method. Data were collected from elderly individuals aged 60 years and older by self-designed questionnaires through face-to face interviews. A total of 7070 participants were finally included in the database (40.3% male, 59.7% female). Chi-square test analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were conducted to clarify the association between SES, physical health and NLTC among the Chinese elderly men and women in Shandong Province. The results of the SEM analysis showed that physical health exerted a strong and negative effect on the NLTC for both genders, with a slightly stronger effect found among the elderly men. SES was found to be significantly and negatively related to the NLTC among the elderly women, while no statistical significance was found for the association between SES and NLTC for elderly men. A significant and positive association between SES and physical health was observed among the elderly men and women, with a slightly stronger effect among the elderly women. Implications for lowering the NLTC and developing an LTC system were addressed based on the findings above.

Keywords: socioeconomic status; physical health; need for long-term care; the Chinese elderly; structural equation modeling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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