Dealing with an aging China-Delaying retirement or the second-child policy?

The impact of accelerating population aging on service industry development: Evidence from China

The demographic structure is an important factor influencing the development of the services industry. As the country with the world's most serious aging problem, China's service industry structure is likely to undergo profound changes in response to the rapid demographic transition. Therefore, this paper examines the effect of population aging on the development of the service industry in the context of China's accelerating population aging. The study found that: (1) Population aging has a significant "inverted U" effect on the development of the services industry. (2) The impact of population aging on the development of the service industry has obvious regional and industry heterogeneity. The study of regional heterogeneity found that population aging in economically developed regions has a more obvious effect on the development of the service industry than in economically less developed regions. Industry heterogeneity studies found that population aging has an obvious promotional effect on the development of medical and other rigid demand industries, while the effect on other non-rigid demand industries is not significant. (3) The threshold effect test found that when the degree of population aging exceeds the threshold, the stimulating effect of population aging on the development of the services industry is no longer significant. The research in this paper provides useful insights into the likely response to changes in the industrial structure of the services industry, and offers some implications for countries with similar demographic profiles to China.

Inhibiting or promoting: Population aging and economic development in China

Population aging has become a social issue of concern to the whole world, and as the world's most populous country, how to cope with population aging will be a hot issue that all sectors of Chinese society must think about. This paper uses provincial panel data from 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2021 to study the relationship between population aging and economic development based on the perspective of health expenditure. The DIFF-GMM model, the fixed effect model (FE), and fixed effect instrumental variable model (FE-IV) are used to test this study. The following two conclusions are drawn from the empirical study: (1) population aging has a significant inhibitory effect on economic development, while health expenditures have a significant promotional effect on economic development; and (2) increased health expenditures help to alleviate the negative impact of population aging on economic development. However, the deepening of population aging will likewise inhibit the positive effect of health expenditure on economic growth. Based on the conclusions of the study, it is recommended that the government and society should continue to increase spending in the field of health protection, encourage and guide residents to carry out self-care, and moderately increase personal health expenditure, to promote economic development with healthy bodies and realize the goal of "Healthy China".

The Association Between Family Health and Frailty With the Mediation Role of Health Literacy and Health Behavior Among Older Adults in China: Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

BACKGROUND

Family health develops from the intersection of the health of each family member and their interactions and capacities as well as the family's internal and external resources. Frailty is the most prominent and typical clinical manifestation during population aging. Family health may be effective in addressing frailty, and this association may be mediated by health literacy and health behaviors. Until now, it is unclear whether and how family health affects frailty in older adults.

OBJECTIVE

This study aimed to examine the associations between family health and frailty and the mediation roles of health literacy and health behaviors.

METHODS

A total of 3758 participants aged ≥60 years were recruited from a national survey conducted in 2022 in China for this cross-sectional study. Family health was measured using the Short Form of the Family Health Scale. Frailty was measured using the Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illnesses, and Loss of weight (FRAIL) scale. Potential mediators included health literacy and health behaviors (not smoking, not having alcohol intake, physical exercise for ≥150 minutes per week, longer sleep duration, and having breakfast every day). Ordered logistic regression was applied to explore the association between family health and frailty status. Mediation analysis based on Sobel tests was used to analyze the indirect effects mediated by health literacy and behaviors, and the Karlson-Holm-Breen method was used to composite the indirect effects.

RESULTS

Ordered logistic regression showed that family health is negatively associated with frailty (odds ratio 0.94, 95% CI 0.93-0.96) with covariates and potential mediators controlled. This association was mediated by health literacy (8.04%), not smoking (1.96%), longer sleep duration (5.74%), and having breakfast every day (10.98%) through the Karlson-Holm-Breen composition.

CONCLUSIONS

Family health can be an important intervention target that appears to be negatively linked to frailty in Chinese older adults. Improving family health can be effective in promoting healthier lifestyles; improving health literacy; and delaying, managing, and reversing frailty.

Emotive Tonality of the "Youth-Old Age" Dichotomy in Russian and Chinese Media Discourses: The Stage of Psychosemantic Expertise

The issue of attitude to age has the character of social stigma at different stages of human civilization, therefore, the identification of the general and particular in the assessments of the "youth-old age" dichotomy in different structural languages seems relevant. The results are based on the materials of an in-depth interview among 510 respondents belonging to different age groups: young, middle, and elderly; and 1257 respondents' responses. The in-depth interview covered 128 characteristics of interpersonal interaction. This made it possible to compile descriptor tables. The 54 characteristics identified were 27 bipolar scales. The objects of evaluation are characterized by 8 pole positions. A comparison was also made with data extracted from 368 articles in Russian and Chinese media. This work contributes to the understanding of the psycholinguistic processes of emotional perception of age in Russian and Chinese linguistic cultures.

Financial freedom, final fantasy, 'formative ageing': A study of ageing single women and retirement in contemporary China

This article aims to continue a conversation sustained in this journal during the last three decades; a conversation that seeks to promote critical thinking on age and ageing through the lens of gender and sexuality. I do so by considering a specific group of Chinese women: single women living in Beijing or Shanghai. I invited 24 of them, born between 1962 and 1990, to share their imaginations about retirement, in the Chinese context, where the mandatory retirement age for women is 55 or 50 (60 for men). My aims are three-fold: to insert this group of single women into retirement and ageing studies; to recuperate and document their retirement imaginations; and ultimately, to draw insights from their subjective accounts, to revisit dominant paradigms of ageing, notably so-called successful ageing. Empirical data show how these single women treasure financial freedom, but usually without taking concrete steps towards its accomplishment. They also embrace a diversity of imaginations about where and with whom they want to spend their retirement life, and what they want to do - both long-held dreams and new careers. Inspired by yanglao, a term they use instead of retirement, I argue the term 'formative ageing' is a more inclusive and less normative way of looking at ageing.

Prevalence and risk factors of dementia in elder adults in Xiamen, China: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of dementia can vary by region and there is a cluster of more than 10 modifiable risk factors for dementia. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence of dementia in Xiamen, China, and identify independent risk factors associated with dementia.

METHODS

This cluster sampling-based cross-sectional study enrolled elder adults from Xiamen City and conducted face-to-face interviews between April and August 2019. Data on the demographic characteristics and prevalence of dementia were collected. Multivariable logistic regression was used to analyse the factors associated with dementia.

RESULTS

A total of 6430 subjects were enrolled. The prevalence of dementia was 7.62% (490/6430). A total of 490 patients were in the dementia group and 196 healthy matched subjects were selected for the control group with similar profiles for age, gender, and occupation as the dementia patients. Dementia patients were at increased risk for cerebrovascular disease, traumatic brain injury, and hypertension (all P < 0.05). Multivariable logistic regression analysis showed hypertension (odds ratio (OR) = 2.4, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.62-3.63, P < 0.001) and traumatic brain injury (OR = 2.19, 95% CI: 1.16-4.53, P = 0.023) were independent risk factors for dementia.

CONCLUSIONS

The prevalence of dementia was high among elder adults residing in Xiamen, China. Dementia patients were more likely to have hypertension and traumatic brain injury than the matched control group.

Red Meat Consumption and Risk of Cardio-Cerebrovascular Disease in Chinese Older Adults

Associations between red meat consumption and cardio-cerebrovascular diseases (CCVDs) are mostly studied in Western populations but not in Chinese or elderly. This prospective study investigated adults ≥65 years from the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB). Associations between red meat consumption and CCVD, ischemic stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA), CCVD mortality, and all-cause mortality were determined by Cox regression. A total of 59,980 participants were analyzed, 14,715 (24.53%) of whom ate red meat daily, 9,843 (16.41%) ate red meat 4-6 days/week, 23,472 (39.13%) ate red meat 1-3 days/week, and 11,950 (19.92%) ate red meat less than 1 day/week. Average amount of red meat usual consumption was 38 g/day. After adjustment, per 50 g/day higher red meat consumption at baseline was significantly associated with increased incident CCVD (aHR = 1.10) among high-income subjects (≥ 10,000 RMB) and urban residents (aHR = 1.12). Per 50 g/day higher baseline red meat consumption was significantly associated with increased ischemic stroke/TIA in urban residents (aHR = 1.08) but decreased risk in rural residents (aHR = 0.84). Higher baseline red meat consumption was associated with lower CCVD mortality in the poorest (aHR = 0.78) and rural residents (aHR = 0.72) and lower all-cause mortality in the poorest (aHR = 0.82) and rural residents (aHR = 0.80). In general, among older adults in China, higher red meat intake independently predicted increased CCVD among urban and high-income individuals but not poor ones. Higher red meat intake appears to be protective against mortality in rural and low-income subjects. Socioeconomic status is a crucial modifying factor on the association between red meat consumption and adverse cardiovascular outcomes in China.

Publication bias in simulation model studies: The case of ethanol literature

In this study, we explore the potential for publication bias using market simulation results that estimate the effect of US ethanol expansion on corn prices. We provide a new test of whether the publication process routes market simulation results into one of the following two narratives: food-versus-fuel or greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Our research question is whether model results with either high price or large land impact are favored for publication in one body of literature or the other. In other words, a model that generates larger price effects might be more readily published in the food-versus-fuel literature while a model that generates larger land use change and GHG emissions might find a home in the GHG emission literature. We develop a test for publication bias based on matching narrative and normalized price effects from simulated market models. As such, our approach differs from past studies of publication bias that typically focus on statistically estimated parameters. This focus could have broad implications: if in the future more studies assess publication bias of quantitative results that are not statistically estimated parameters, then important inferences about publication bias could be drawn. More specifically, such a body of literature could explore the potential that practices common in either statistical methods or other methods tend to encourage or deter publication bias. Turning back to the present case, our findings in this study do not detect a relationship between food-versus-fuel or GHG narrative orientation and corn price effects. The results are relevant to debates about biofuel impacts and our approach can inform the publication bias literature more generally.

Does long-term exposure to air pollution impair physical and mental health in the middle-aged and older adults? - A causal empirical analysis based on a longitudinal nationwide cohort in China

The world is aging, posing a challenge to public health. Air pollution is increasingly recognized as an important environmental risk factor, with effects on both physical and mental health. Considering the vulnerability of older adults, they tend to have more prevalent comorbidities that may lead to broader consequences. However, evidence to comprehensively assess the causal effects of long-term air pollution exposure on the physical and mental health of older adults remains limited and inconsistent, especially in developing countries. The longitudinal data from the Chinese Family Panel Study (a representative Chinese national cohort study) for 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 were included in this study. The Correlated Random Effects Control Function method (CRE-CF) in a counterfactual causal inference framework was employed to explore the causal relationship between long-term exposure to air pollution and physical and mental health and self-rated health status in middle-aged and older adults, considering the ordered categorical nature of health outcomes. The appropriate instrumental variable was selected and validated. This study included 5846 participants aged >45 years in 2012. In the CRE-CF model for activities of daily living (ADLs, positively associated with physical health), subjective memory impairment (SMI, negatively associated with memory health) and self-rated health status in middle-age and older adults, the coefficient of PM_2.5 is -0.069, 0.102, and 0.106 respectively, and all statistically significant at 5% level, which suggests that chronic exposure to air pollutants had significant negative effects on ADLs, SMI and self-rated health in middle-aged and older adults. The findings suggest that long-term exposure to air pollutants can impair the health of middle-aged and older adults across the board, including physical and mental health. In the context of an aging society, the findings of this study will provide tremendous implications for the authority to protect them from damage caused by long-term exposure to air pollutants.

The dilemma of dual adaptation to delayed retirement initiative and work model change of gig economy: the influence of late retirement and multiple-job holding on mental health among older workers

PURPOSE

A growing number of older workers engage in multiple jobs in the context of delayed retirement initiative and the fast-growing gig economy in China. However, it remains unclear whether multiple jobs holding is beneficial to late retirees.

METHODS

To preliminarily address this issue, this study applies the data of CHARLS-2015 to examine the effect of late retirement and multiple-job holding on mental health among older adults. Besides, instrumental variables (IVs) regression is conducted to clarify potential endogeneity problem.

RESULTS

It is shown that both late retirement (coef. = - 2.726, p < 0.01) and multiple-job holding (coef. = - 1.523, p < 0.01) alleviate depression among older adults. However, multiple-job holding would weaken the relationship between late retirement and depression (coef. = 2.019, p < 0.01).

CONCLUSION

The findings suggest that although the modest engagement in late careers and multiple-job holding could benefit mental health, respectively, the overlap of them could be overburdened for older adults. Policymakers should be aware of the occupational risk of multiple-job holding when incentivizing the delayed retirement to address the population aging.