The Effects Of Social Capital On Health Of The Elderly In Poverty Rural Of The Western

Economy and society are transforming in China; the aging population shows many disadvantage characteristics. So we should focus on the elderly health. It has been proved that social capital is one of the important factors affecting the health of elderly. Based on survey data from Xi-Hai-Gu Area, we measure individual social capital and the elderly health using factor analysis and SRHMS; Then, we will discuss the mechanisms of social capital effecting on the elderly health in three aspects.Firstly, we analyze factors that influence on health of elderly in poverty rural of western with Probit model. Then using KHB estimates the direct effects and indirect effects of social capital on the health of elderly. The following conclusions:(1) Social capital, pension model, lifestyle, economic conditions will significantly affect the health of elderly in rural;(2) Social capital impacting on the elderly health has direct and indirect effects, which the direct effect is 0.2153 and the indirect is 0.1129;(3) Social capital through pension model, lifestyle, economic status has an indirect effect on the elderly physical, mental and social health, but the effects are different in different health.Secondly, Framework including lifestyle is necessary, which is the path analysis of social capital effecting on the elderly health. We estimate simultaneous equations model for studying on the effect and path of social capital on the health of the elderly, based on lifestyle as a mediator. The empirical study shows that the social capital impacts on the health of the elderly significantly, of which directly effect is 0.638 and mediating effect by the way of lifestyle is 0.108. Not only are there direct effect on the physiological and the mental health of elderly by social capital, but also the indirect effect on the two is significant through lifestyle as a mediator. However, the mediation is less than the direct effect.Third, the social capital is a multi-dimensional complex variable, so we should discuss different dimensions how effect on the health of elderly. In this study, with using quantile regression model, we show that different dimensions of social capital effect on the health of elderly, and to portray the coefficient trends of social networks, social trust, social reputation, and social participation. The study found that social networks only significantly influence health of the elderly in the middle quantile, and its coefficient was "inverted U"; Social trust in the low quantile significantly impact on health of the elderly, which was also “inverted U”, but the peak deviates to the left; Social reputation significantly effects on the health of elderly in the middle quantile, and the coefficient is relatively flat in the low quantile and increases sharply in the middle quantile; In addition to 10 points quantile, social participation play a significant role on the health of elderly, and the coefficient rises all the time. Thus, the various dimensions of social capital have significant effects on health, but there are different mechanisms.For improving the health of elderly in poverty rural, not only do the government and the society give economic assistance, but also cannot ignore the impact of social capital, for example, establishing cultural activity rooms social to create favorable interaction and social participation conditions for improving the health of elderly by increasing individual social capital. The government should pay attention to psychological intervention and counseling for the elderly, with building community advisory organization to help them solve psychological problems so as to face to frustrations in positive and optimistic. In addition, with regular Communication and activities, government make use of social capital, deliver health information, and then promote lifestyle of elderly.