The Impact Of Family Structure On The Mental Health Of The Elderly

General Secretary Xi Jinping once pointed out that the old age is an important stage of life with dignity,progress and happiness.The elderly "having happiness" refers to the mental health status of the elderly.The mental health of the elderly will have a certain impact on their attitude towards life and physical health,which will also affect quality of life and lives of the elderly.At present,with the deepening of the aging degree and the rapid miniaturization of family structure,the traditional family structure has gradually disintegrated and the original family functions have changed.The traditional family structure is gradually becoming smaller and more core.If the health of the elderly becomes problematic,the whole family will face serious financial crisis and psychological distress.From the perspective of family structure,this paper study how it affects the mental health of the elderly,and further analyzes the mental health level of urban and rural and gender sample groups.It can provide relevant policies for alleviating the shortage of family pension resources and improving the old-age service system,as well as to improve psychological health of the elderly to provide corresponding train of thought..This paper draws on the Grossman health demand model and the family intergenerational support theory,and combines the existing research on various factors affecting the mental health of the elderly,using the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study data of 2015.he classification of family structure is mainly based on the life cycle theory and the measurement of blood relationship and marriage relationship.It can be found that the change of family structure is based on the evolution of children's life history,which is less affected by the elderly themselves,and can be divided into four types: single family,couple's family,inter-generational family,immediate family.In this paper,the degree of depression is used to measure the mental health of the elderly.The lower the score of depression,the better the mental health.According to the data characteristics of mental health,the empirical analysis is mainly based on the least squares model.Through the research,it is found that: First,different family structures have different effects on the mental health of the elderly.The specific analysis,compared with single family,couple's family has a significant negative impact on the degree of depression of the elderly,which indicates that their mental health is good.There was a significant positive correlation between the immediate family and the elderly's mental health,but the influence of the intergenerational family was not significant.Secondly,the analysis of urban and rural samples shows that compared with single family,the mental health level of elderly people in rural areas is significantly higher in couple's and immediate family.Third,according to the gender samples,both the couple's family and the immediate family have a significant impact on the mental health of the male elderly population,that is to say,the mental health of the male elderly population of the two family structures is better than that of the single family,and only the immediate family structure has a significant impact on the mental health of the female population.In conclusion,the mental health level of the elderly from disadvantaged families is poor.Therefore,this paper proposes relevant policy suggestions to strengthen the harmonious relationship between family members and enhance the family's support for the elderly from the perspective of family;To help solve the living and economic pressure of the elderly,encourage them to actively participate in beneficial community social activities,and enhance their psychological counseling;Focus on improving the social support of vulnerable elderly groups.The community can provide a good living environment for the elderly who are single or separated by generation,and provide economic material support and spiritual comfort.