Urban Elderly Social Participation Study

Aging Population is an irreversible trend. With the active aging concept, the social participation of the elderly is gradually concerned by the academia and the government. This study is based on this background and pays attention to the social participation of the urban elderly. This study specifically pays attention to the urban elderly social participation status, the main factors that affect the urban elderly social participation. This is of great significance to promote the social participation of the elderly and improve the life quality of the elderly.This study's research objects are Beijing60aged and over, the writer uses systematic random sampling method to collect data by conducting a questionnaire survey in Anhui Li community in the Chaoyang District, Beijing Asian Games Village street. The survey sample contains472elderly people, the writer gets a total of400questionnaires finally, of which306valid questionnaires, the questionnaire response rate is75%.In this study, the concept of social participation is operated into cultural and sports activities, the political activities and the volunteer activities. The measure indexes of cultural and sports activities include13activities, such as playing chess; The measure indexes of political activities include4activities, such as participating in the community's neighborhood committee and council activities; The measure indexes of volunteer activities include4activities, such as donating money and other things. The participation frequency of each activity is set to "every day","often" and "sometimes","occasionally" and "never". Firstly, the study reflects the social participation status of the old of Anhui Li community from the frequency and scale; and the influence factors on the status of the elderly are followed using multiple regression analysis.The study finds that from the frequency of the elderly social participation, walking/using equipment and chat gatherings have the highest frequency in the cultural and sports activities; neighborhood council has the highest frequency in the political activities; donating money has the highest frequency in the volunteer activities. At the same time, the overall social participation frequency is very low, the three types of activities range from "never" and "occasional". From the breadth of the elderly social participation, the number of older with breadth1-5is largest in the cultural and sports activities; the number of older with breadth0is most in the political activities; the number of older with breadth1is largest in the volunteer activities.The elderly social participation is an important thing involving the elderly, the elderly family and the community environment. It has nothing with the age, but health. A good health is the foundation of any activity for the elderly. From the data analysis results, the elderly who think they have the better self-rated health status and have a self-assessment outgoing character have calm state of mind and a healthy and do not exclude themselves from the crowd, and are willing to participate in all activities. Length of residence in this community has also become an important factor of the elderly social participation. Length of residence has close contact with a sense of community, the elderly who have a longer residence time are more familiar with this community and don't rule out activities in the community. However, living in a shorter time especially the elderly who stay less than five years, of which come to Beijing due to their children or other reasons, their social participation degree is very low. They rarely participate in community's cultural entertainment, political activities and volunteer activities with a very narrow range of the scope of activities and exchanges, a low integration of the community. From the community environment, whether the elderly know the activities is the base of their social participation.