The Influence Of Grandchildren Caring On The Health Of Middle-aged And Elderly People ——An Empirical Study Based On Panel Data Of CHARLS

With the deepening of aging society and the adjustment of birth policy,The health problems of middle-aged and older people who are widely responsible for grandchildren caring should be addressed.This is not only related to the health and welfare of the middle-aged and elderly people,but also of great significance to the construction of "Healthy China" and the process of active aging.According to this,this paper performs a theoretical analysis of how grandchildren caring affects the health of middle-aged and elderly people based on social-role theory,inter-generational exchange theory and socioemotional selectivity theory.Then this paper uses the panel data of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study（CHARLS）to conduct empirical research.Based on the description and analysis of the grandchildren caring and health status of middle-aged and elderly people,and comprehensively use the Order Probit model,the OLS model,the Logit model to analyze the influence of grandchildren caring on the health of middle-aged and elderly people.The research conclusions of this paper are as follows: Firstly,about 47 percent of middle-aged and elderly people provide grandchildren caring,and women take more caring responsibilities,and the middle-aged and elderly people who provided grandchildren caring reported have better self-assessed health and lower levels of depression,but they have more medical treatment behavior.Secondly,the grandchildren caring affects the health of middle-aged and elderly people.Specifically,the grandchildren caring increases the probability of middle-aged and elderly people’s medical treatment behavior,and negatively affects their physical health.The grandchildren caring lowered their depression levels,and has positive effects on their mental health.The grandchildren caring improves their self-assessed health,and positively affects their overall health.Thirdly,the influence of grandchildren caring time on the health of middle-aged and elderly people is non-linear.Specifically,depression level increases first and then decreases with the increase of grandchildren caring time,and self-assessed health first decreased and then increased with the increase of intergenerational care time.Based on the research conclusions,this paper proposes the following policy suggestions: encouraging middle-aged and elderly people to provide moderate grandchildren caring,the government can provide subsidies for grandchildren caring,improving social care services,implementing delayed retirement requires consideration of grandchildren caring,and improving the social security system,especially the medical insurance system.