A Study On The Urban-rural Differences In The Impact Of Social Support On The Health Of The Elderly

Under the background of aging population and "healthy China" strategy,the health of the elderly has gradually become an important topic of people's livelihood.However,China's urban-rural dual structure has led to significant differences in health and social support for the elderly.In order to realize the strategy of active aging and "healthy China",in addition to improving the overall health level of the elderly,we should pay attention to the difference in health level between urban and rural elderly.This paper uses data from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study;First,it describes the differences in health of the elderly in urban and rural areas from three dimensions: physical health,mental health and self-rated health;Second,it describes the differences in social support for the elderly in urban and rural areas from two dimensions: informal support and formal support;and Do the mean difference t test on the above difference to verify the statistical significance of the difference;Then,using binary Logit model and heterogeneous choice model,this paper analyzes the urban-rural differences in the impact of social support on the health of the elderly,The binary Logit model is the basic model,while the HCM is an improvement on the Logit model,which solves the heteroscedasticity problem and reflects the more real urban-rural differences,the results of the two models form a robustness test.This study found that there are significant urban-rural differences in health and social support among the elderly,and there are some urban-rural differences in the impact of social support on the health of the elderly.(1)The physical health,mental health and self-rated health status of the rural elderly are worse than those of the urban elderly,the difference is statistically significant.(2)In the informal support dimension,the proportions of children meeting weekly,children contacting weekly and participating in social interaction among the elderly in rural areas are lower than those of the elderly in urban areas,but the proportion of receiving economic support is higher than that of the elderly in urban areas,the urban-rural differences in children meeting weekly,social interaction,economic support three aspects are significant;In the formal support dimension,the proportions of the elderly with medical insurance in urban and rural areas are above 90%,and the difference between urban and rural areas is not significant,the pension income and transfer income of urban elderly are higher than those of rural elderly,among which the difference of pension income is significant.(3)There are no significant urban-rural differences in the impact of children meeting on the health of the elderly,but there are some urban-rural differences in the other social support variables on the health of the elderly.The positive impact of child contacting and social interaction on the health of urban elderly in all dimensions is greater than that of the rural elderly;Economic support has a positive impact on the physical and mental health of urban elderly,while on rural elderly;Medical insurance has a positive effect on the physical health and self-rated health of urban and rural elderly people,and it has significantly promoted the mental health of the elderly in rural areas,but its' effect on the mental health of urban elderly is the opposite;Pension income promotes the health of the elderly in all dimensions,and it has a greater positive impact on the self-rated health of the urban elderly than the rural elderly;Transfer income has a negative impact on the mental health and self-rated health of urban and rural elderly,and it also has a negative impact on the physical health of urban elderly,but it has played a positive role in the physical health of the rural elderly.In summary,there is a great deal of room for improving informal support for the elderly to improve their health,especially in rural areas,and different measures need to be taken according to the differences between urban and rural areas;Increase formal support for the elderly and increase efforts to complement rural shortcomings with a view to achieving health equity.According to the differences between urban and rural areas,this paper puts forward a series of policy suggestions to improve the social support of the elderly,improve the health level of the elderly and promote the health equity of the elderly in urban and rural areas.