Early Child-Parent Relationship Quality and Cognitive Function in Older Rural Chinese Adults: The Mediating Role of Educational Attainment

Hukou Status and Cognitive Function Among Older Chinese Adults: Does Support from Friends Matter?

OBJECTIVES

This study examined whether older Chinese adults with different types of hukou status (government household registration system) exhibited different cognitive outcomes and whether receiving support from friends, an under-appreciated resource, helped mitigate the negative impacts of agricultural hukou status on cognitive health disparities.

METHODS

Using nationally representative data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey, this study tested these relationships with well-validated measures.

RESULTS

Our results showed that older Chinese adults with agricultural hukou were more likely to have worse cognitive function than those with non-agricultural hukou. Further, friend support characteristics moderated the association between hukou status and cognitive function, whereby having better friend support was related to a weaker negative effect of agricultural hukou status on cognitive function.

DISCUSSION

The findings suggested that agricultural hukou status reflects the effects of accumulated disadvantage across the life course with negative consequences for late-life cognition. The cognitive health disparities between agricultural and non-agricultural residents may be reduced in the context of a higher level of friend support, supporting a stress buffering hypothesis.

Empirical Research on Male Preference in China: A Result of Gender Imbalance in the Seventh Population Census

The Seventh National Population Census, recently conducted in 2020, reported the most up-to-date information on the size, structure, and distribution of China's population. The results showed that the gender imbalance in China is still severe compared with the international standard. With the aim of understanding what has contributed to China's gender imbalance, this study examined a range of potential influencing factors and measured the extent to which they have affected China's sex structure. We gathered data from 3100 citizens (100 surveys from each provincial-level administrative region in mainland China); the useful response rate was 87.5% (2713/3100). We relied on statistical analysis to investigate the phenomenon of male preference in China and used a logit regression to analyze the factors associated with this result. We inspected the factors associated with the perception according to gender, age, annual income, living location, educational level, nationality, family contribution, the ideology of being supported by sons, social status, ability to generate money, and carrying on the family name. The results showed that, among these factors, the relationship of family contribution, the ideology of being supported by sons, and carrying on the family name with male preference was significant. This study is among the first to explore the factors affecting male preference that could have resulted in China's gender imbalance. The findings of this research are also important as references for the development of the population strategy and policy instruments used to manage the demographic problems in China.

The influence of childhood adversities on mid to late cognitive function: From the perspective of life course

Background

The effects of childhood adversities on cognitive function in later life are well reported. However, few studies have examined the cumulative mechanism, especially in Chinese population. This study aims to explore this cumulative effects of childhood adversities on mid to late cognitive decline in China.

Methods

Data were drawn from the second and third wave of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). We included 9,942 respondents aged 45 and above and retrospectively collected information on childhood adversities. Cognitive function was measured in three dimensions: orientation and calculation, immediate memory, and delayed memory. A structural equation model was employed for analysis.

Results

Age (β = -0.155, P<0.001) and mid to late depressive symptoms (β = -0.041, P<0.001) showed direct effects on cognitive decline. Low mid to late life socioeconomic status (SES) showed a direct effect on mid-late cognitive impairment (β = 0.603, P<0.001) and an indirect effect through depression (β = 0.007, P<0.001). Low childhood SES (β = 0.310, P<0.001), lack of friends (β = 0.208, P<0.001), parental mental health problems (β = 0.008, P<0.001), and poor relationship with parents (β = 0.001, P<0.001) had an indirect effect on cognitive impairment.

Conclusions

Childhood adversities had negative effects on cognitive function among middle aged and elderly population in China. The findings suggest that early counter measures on childhood adversities may lead to an effective reduction of cognitive impairment.