Gender Differences in Geriatric Depressive Symptoms in Rural China: The Role of Physical Housing Environments and Living Arrangements

Mingwang Fang, Jinfeng Chen, Ling Guo and Xiao Ma
Additional contact information
Mingwang Fang: Department of Health-Related Social and Behavioral Science, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
Jinfeng Chen: Department of Health-Related Social and Behavioral Science, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
Ling Guo: Department of Health management, Chongqing Nursing Vocational College, Chongqing 402763, China
Xiao Ma: Department of Health-Related Social and Behavioral Science, West China School of Public Health, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: Physical housing environment and living arrangements are significant determinants of health, particularly in developing countries, although results are mixed. We conducted this study to examine the gender differences in geriatric depressive symptoms in rural China, and further explored the influence of housing environments and living arrangements on depressive symptoms. The data used for this study were from the third wave of the nationally representative China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) survey in 2015; a total of 2056 females and 2529 males were included in this study. According to the analysis findings, 46.15% of the respondents had depressive symptoms based on the CES-D, with a statistically significant gender difference of 54.32% in females and 39.50% in males. Logistic Regression findings identified that with regard to the items of physical housing environments, toilets without seats (OR = 1.349) and the unavailability of bathing facilities (OR = 1.469) were statistically associated with depressive symptoms among male participants, whereas for female participants the use of polluting fuels (OR = 1.248) and living arrangements (i.e., living with children, OR = 1.430) was statistically associated with depressive symptoms. Statistically significant gender differences were found for having shower or bath facilities and our findings underscored that physical housing environments and living arrangements were associated with depressive symptoms for both genders. Moreover, the study revealed that a slight gender difference exists in terms of geriatric depression in rural China. Females are more likely to become depressed than their male counterparts with the same characteristics.

Keywords: gender difference; geriatric depressive symptoms; physical housing environments; living arrangements; rural China (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)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/5/774/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/5/774/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:5:p:774-:d:210638

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().