Explaining Differences in Health of Chinese Elderly

Cleveland State University, Cleveland OH

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Abstract

[unreadable] DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term objectives of this project are to identify links between socioeconomic status at both the individual and community level, and individual health status among the oldest-old in China. To enhance understanding of factors that lead to variation in health status among the very old, the study addresses the following specific questions: (1) Is individual socioeconomic status related to health differentials among the oldest-old in China? (2) Can the effect of individual socioeconomic status on health, if any, be mediated through psychosocial factors, such as social support, health behaviors, and diet? (3) Is there any independent effect of community level socioeconomic status even after individual characteristics are taken into account? (4) Are any such effects mediated through physical and social conditions of communities? (5) Are the effects of individual characteristics on health conditional on community-level characteristics? This study uses the first round (1998) of the Health Longevity Survey in China, a longitudinal national sample (N = 9,073) of the oldest-old (aged 80 or above), which serves as a starting-point for more comprehensive longitudinal studies in the future. Four dimensions of physical health status will be examined separately: basic physical performance, ADL, number of chronic diseases, and self-rated health. A composite index will also be constructed based on these four measures. Specific measures will be constructed for individual socioeconomic status, demographic characteristics, social support, health practices, diet pattern, and social and physical conditions of the community environment. Hierarchical linear models will be applied to examine the effects on health status of individual and community characteristics simultaneously. [unreadable] [unreadable]