Study On Flynn Effect Among Older Adults In China And Its Influencing Factors

Mastering the development law of cognitive function has become the basis and internal requirement for the development of long-term care systems,with the increase of the scale of the mentally disabled elderly.Studies abroad have found that the results of cognitive function tests of elderly people are better than the early-born elderly people,that is,the Flynn Effect,but there are few these kinds of studies in China.The purpose of this study is to explore the existence of the Flynn effect of the cognitive function of the elderly in China,explore the social environmental factors that cause the Flynn effect,explore the influence of these factors on the size of the Flynn effect,and lay the foundation for improving the design of the long-term care support system.Based on data from the 2002-2014 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey(CLHLS),this paper validates the existence of the Flynn effect,finds out the factors that lead to the Flynn effect and how these factors affect the size of the Flynn effect by constructing the birth age group and the comparison group,combined with multiple regression analysis and Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition.This paper finds that:1.The cognitive function of the elderly in China has a Flynn effect,in which memory is particularly significant.2.The factors that trigger the cognitive function of the elderly includes the increase in family income,the increase in accessibility of medical resources,the reduced levels of disablity,increased years of education,increased exposure to audio-visual media,and reduced levels of depression.In addition,unobservable social transformation,improved physical and mental living conditions that change the coefficient also resulted in a higher mean cognitive function score for the later-born group.3.Audio-visual media stimulation can significantly expand the memory of the elderly,and the high years of education significantly reduce the memory of the elderly,but only through these tests is not enough to draw conclusions about the future development trend of the Flynn effect;4.Education Level,audio-visual media stimulation,work environment stimulation,disability,depression,cerebrovascular disease,access to medical resources,childhood nutrition,exercise habits,social entertainment,per capita household income,gender and age all affect older people in cognitive function.This paper proposes that the cognitive function assessment component should be added on the existing long-term care needs assessment criteria,The macro assessment of long-term care needs should consider the Flynn effect.The the impact of other social and environmental factors on the future long-term care needs should also take into account.The long-term care insurance risk management should be carried out in time by preventing the elderly from being mentally disabled.