| At present,China is experiencing a rapid population aging.According to the United Nations World Population Outlook data,the proportion of middle-aged and elderly people in China is expected to exceed 50 per cent after 2040.With the deepening of the aging in China,the health security of the middle-aged and the elderly is also facing challenges.Active aging is the key to alleviate the pressure of aging population,and the various ways and means of active aging are important ways to enhance health capital."Participation" is one of the three pillars to realize active aging,which refers to the behavior mode in which middle-aged and old people realize their own value through the form of social labor and social activities in the process of social interaction.The definition emphasizes the interaction,connection and value of roles in the process of participation of middle-aged and older persons,which means that unpaid activities such as caring for grandchildren can also be included in the scope of"participation".In addition,the community is the basic carrier of the "participation" of middle-aged and elderly people,and community participation is essential to the active aging of middle-aged and elderly people.As an important way to "participation",grandparenting and community participation will be of great significance to the accumulation of health capital for the middle-aged and the elderly.Based on the data of the 2015 National Baseline Survey of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study(CHARLS),this paper will build a comprehensive two-dimensional measurement index of physical and mental health under the guidance of"role promotion theory","activity theory" and "exhausted retirement theory".The relationship between grandparenting,community participation and health of middle-aged and elderly people was empirically analyzed by using OLS regression model and tendency score matching.Through regression analysis,this study found that grandparenting and community participation have a positive impact on the physical and mental health of the middle-aged and the elderly to varying degrees.The degree of improvement in physical health from grandparenting increases with the increase in care time.Participation in recreational activities will significantly improve the health of the middle-aged and the elderly,but participation in voluntary activities has not improved the health of middle-aged and elderly people.In order to investigate the structural differences between grandparenting and community participation in the health of middle-aged and elderly people,this paper further tests the samples of urban and rural areas,whether they are empty nests,and whether they are living alone.The results showed that,with the exception of grandparenting,which had no significant effect on the improvement of the single-person group,grandparenting and community participation had a significant positive impact on the physical health of older people in various sub-samples,but the impact on mental health varied.It is worth noting that grandparenting and community participation do not have a significant impact on the mental health of elderly people living alone,and participation in grandparenting has a tendency to even have a negative impact on their mental health.Considering the self-selecting of the effects of grandparenting and community participation on health,this paper further analyzes the variables by using the tendency score matching method.Finally,this paper analyzed and discussed the results of the research and related thinking,and put forward several policy suggestions in order to enlighten the health protection of middle-aged and elderly people and the active aging. |
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