Comparison of Depressive Symptoms and Its Influencing Factors among the Elderly in Urban and Rural Areas: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)

Haixia Liu, Xiaojing Fan, Huanyuan Luo, Zhongliang Zhou, Chi Shen, Naibao Hu and Xiangming Zhai
Additional contact information
Haixia Liu: School of Public Health and Management, Binzhou Medical University, No. 346, Guanhai Road, Yantai 264003, China
Xiaojing Fan: School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28, Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China
Huanyuan Luo: Department of Clinical Sciences, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, Liverpool L3 5QA, UK
Zhongliang Zhou: School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28, Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China
Chi Shen: School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28, Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China
Naibao Hu: School of Public Health and Management, Binzhou Medical University, No. 346, Guanhai Road, Yantai 264003, China
Xiangming Zhai: School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28, Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-18

Abstract: Depression amongst the elderly population is a worldwide public health problem, especially in China. Affected by the urban–rural dual structure, depressive symptoms of the elderly in urban and rural areas are significantly different. In order to compare depressive symptoms and its influencing factors among the elderly in urban and rural areas, we used the data from the fourth wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). A total of 7690 participants at age 60 or older were included in this study. The results showed that there was a significant difference in the prevalence estimate of depression between urban and rural elderly (? 2 = 10.9.76, p < 0.001). The prevalence of depression among rural elderly was significantly higher than that of urban elderly (OR -unadjusted = 1.88, 95% CI: 1.67 to 2.12). After adjusting for gender, age, marital status, education level, minorities, religious belief, self-reported health, duration of sleep, life satisfaction, chronic disease, social activities and having income or not, the prevalence of depression in rural elderly is 1.52 times (OR = 1.52, 95% CI: 1.32 to 1.76) than that of urban elderly. Gender, education level, self-reported health, duration of sleep, chronic diseases were associated with depression in both urban and rural areas. In addition, social activities were connected with depression in urban areas, while minorities, marital status and having income or not were influencing factors of depression among the rural elderly. The interaction analysis showed that the interaction between marital status, social activities and urban and rural sources was statistically significant (divorced: coefficient was 1.567, p < 0.05; social activities: coefficient was 0.340, p < 0.05), while gender, education level, minorities, self-reported health, duration of sleep, life satisfaction, chronic disease, social activities having income or not and urban and rural sources have no interaction ( p > 0.05). Thus, it is necessary to propose targeted and precise intervention strategies to prevent depression after accurately identifying the factors’ effects.

Keywords: elderly; depressive symptoms; difference of urban and rural area; CHARLS (wave 4) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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