Self-rated health differences among different workers in China with an agricultural hukou: the chain mediation effect of income satisfaction and medical service quality

Li He, Jiangyin Wang, Yang Yang, Yue Yu, Zihan Feng and Zhixiong Yang ()
Additional contact information
Li He: Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
Jiangyin Wang: Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
Yang Yang: Central China Normal University
Yue Yu: Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
Zihan Feng: Zhongnan University of Economics and Law
Zhixiong Yang: Nankai University

Palgrave Communications, 2025, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Workers with agricultural hukou (WAH) in China, due to the prevalence of their group and their vulnerability in terms of health, have long been the focal point of research. This study utilizes data from the 2016, 2018, and 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) to analyze the self-rated health status and influencing factors of different subgroups of WAH, including subsistence farmers, agricultural laborers, and non-agricultural workers. This study employed the two-way fixed-effects model, treatment effects model, double machine learning (DML), and structural equation modeling (SEM). The results show that, within the WAH population, subsistence farmers have the lowest self-rated health levels. In contrast, no statistically significant health differences were found between agricultural laborers and non-agricultural workers. Drawing upon public service accessibility theory, this study further confirms the chain mediation effect of income satisfaction and medical service quality on these health disparities. The findings provide important insights for the government to formulate more targeted and practical health promotion policies.

Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-04859-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

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:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04859-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/palcomms/about

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04859-z

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Palgrave Communications from Palgrave Macmillan
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().