TY - JOUR
T1 - Flows of social support and health status among older persons in China
AU - Liu, Xian
AU - Liang, Jersey
AU - Gu, Shengzu
PY - 1995/10
Y1 - 1995/10
N2 - As a consequence of the political, social, and economic developments in contemporary China, there have been considerable changes in the patterns of flows of social support between Chinese older people and their significant others. There is evidence that Chinese elders are now under strong pressure to provide more social support, instrumental support in particular, to their children and other relatives while they receive less. Such a change in the direction of flows of social support has been reported to worsen the elders' health. This paper describes the general pattern of social support both to and from the Chinese elders, using data of a probability sample survey conducted in Wuhan, China in 1991. The association between social support, both receiving and providing, and old-age health status is also analysed within a multivariate framework. The results of two probit models suggest that emotional support received plays a crucial role in affecting an elder's health status, while instrumental support received does not have explicit impacts. In addition, there is no empirical evidence that increased instrumental support from elders has worsened their health status as reported.
AB - As a consequence of the political, social, and economic developments in contemporary China, there have been considerable changes in the patterns of flows of social support between Chinese older people and their significant others. There is evidence that Chinese elders are now under strong pressure to provide more social support, instrumental support in particular, to their children and other relatives while they receive less. Such a change in the direction of flows of social support has been reported to worsen the elders' health. This paper describes the general pattern of social support both to and from the Chinese elders, using data of a probability sample survey conducted in Wuhan, China in 1991. The association between social support, both receiving and providing, and old-age health status is also analysed within a multivariate framework. The results of two probit models suggest that emotional support received plays a crucial role in affecting an elder's health status, while instrumental support received does not have explicit impacts. In addition, there is no empirical evidence that increased instrumental support from elders has worsened their health status as reported.
KW - China
KW - health status
KW - older people
KW - social support
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0029124125&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0277-9536(94)00427-U
DO - 10.1016/0277-9536(94)00427-U
M3 - 文章
C2 - 8578339
AN - SCOPUS:0029124125
SN - 0277-9536
VL - 41
SP - 1175
EP - 1184
JO - Social Science and Medicine
JF - Social Science and Medicine
IS - 8
ER -