The Influence Of Empty-Nesting On The Subjectivewell-Being Of The Elderly

With the problems of aging population getting worse in China,empty nesters have become a large-scale group requiring special attention.Whether empty-nesting has any effect on the subjective well-being of the elderly has become a meaningful research topic.On the basis of literature and theoretical research,an empirical model is constructed in this paper to explore the impact of empty-nesting on the subjective well-being of the elderly,using the data of the fourth China sampling survey of the living conditions of the elderly in urban and rural areas in Jilin Province to analyse the basic characteristics of the elderly,whether the elderly are empty-nesting in the number of their children,conditions of children living in other provinces and the living style of the elderly.The main conclusions are as follows.The overall level of subjective well-being of the elderly is relatively high,and the proportion of women feeling happy is higher than that of men;the proportion of elderly people feeling happiness increases with the growth of age;elderly people in urban areas feeling happiness account for a higher proportion than that in rural areas.The proportion of elderly people who feel happy with minor nationality is higher than that of Han ethic group;the higher the level of educational attainment,the stronger the sense of happiness;the better the economic condition,the stronger the feeling of happiness;the better the conditions of the health,the higher the degree of happiness.Although most elderly people express they are pretty happy or happier,there are also some elderly people who are not very satisfied with the state of life,especially those with lower subjective well-being in the above analysis.Emphasis should be placed on the heterogeneity and needs of the elderly population to enhance their subjective well-being by promoting social policies.According to descriptive statistics,the situation of elderly people living alone or living together is that;14% of the elderly live alone,54% of couples live together,26% of them live with their sons,and 5% live with their daughters.Other cohabitation types are relatively few.On the whole,the proportion of empty nesters living alone or only couples living together is relatively high,and the high proportion of empty nesters reflects that China traditional way of providing for the aged and the security system are being exposed to a huge shock.The chronic lack of life care and spiritual comfort has led to varying degrees of decline in their physical and mental health.Therefore,we should pay attention to the empty nesters,especially those living alone in order to improve their subjective well-being.It is also found that the empty-nesting reduces the subjective well-being of the elderly,while living with their children could significantly enhance the subjective well-being of them.According to the result of regression analysis,the possible explainable reason is that the elderly can be given spiritual comfort and life care in time when living with their children,so as to improve the happiness of the elderly.There is no significant difference in the probability of happiness between the elderly living with a son and living with a daughter among the advanced people who live with their children.Among the empty nesters,the elderly who live with their spouses are more likely to feel happy than those living alone.This also shows that marriage plays a certain role in protecting the health of the elderly,and confirms the theory of social support:the elderly need social support and social participation,living alone will reduce the well-being of the elderly.