IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v20y2023i17p6672-d1227707.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of Subjective Poverty on the Mental Health of the Elderly in China: The Mediating Role of Social Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Yanghan Li

    (School of Political Science and Public Administration, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Tianyi Chen

    (Institute of Quality Development Strategy, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Quan Li

    (School of Political Science and Public Administration, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

  • Linxiu Jiang

    (School of Political Science and Public Administration, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China)

Abstract

Reducing subjective poverty among the elderly is an important aspect of poverty governance and is a necessary part of implementing the healthy aging strategy in China. In both China and the majority of low- and middle-income countries, systematic research on the relationship between subjective poverty and the mental health of the elderly needs to be expanded. In this study, we aimed to examine how social capital, including bonding and bridging social capital, mediate the relationship between subjective poverty and mental health among the elderly in China. Relying on the 2018 Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) data, we used ordered probit (oprobit) regression, propensity score matching (PSM), and instrumental variable (IV) regression to estimate the effects of subjective poverty on mental health. The results indicate that subjective poverty has a significant negative impact on the mental health of the elderly in China. More importantly, social capital, including bonding and bridging social capital, partially mediates the relationship between subjective poverty and mental health. We believe that, in the process of implementing the government’s healthy aging strategy in China, society and government should recognize the importance and value of subjective poverty governance for the elderly. In particular, the construction of a social relationship network that centers on bonding and bridging social capital could be instrumental in dealing with subjective poverty among the elderly and safeguarding their mental health and wellbeing.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanghan Li & Tianyi Chen & Quan Li & Linxiu Jiang, 2023. "The Impact of Subjective Poverty on the Mental Health of the Elderly in China: The Mediating Role of Social Capital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(17), pages 1-18, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6672-:d:1227707
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6672/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/20/17/6672/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dorrit Posel & Michael Rogan, 2016. "Measured as Poor versus Feeling Poor: Comparing Money-metric and Subjective Poverty Rates in South Africa," Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 55-73, February.
    2. Almedom, Astier M., 2005. "Social capital and mental health: An interdisciplinary review of primary evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 943-964, September.
    3. JeongHee Yeo & Yoon G. Lee, 2019. "Understanding the Association Between Perceived Financial Well-Being and Life Satisfaction Among Older Adults: Does Social Capital Play a Role?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 592-608, December.
    4. Martin Ravallion & Michael Lokshin, 2001. "Identifying Welfare Effects from Subjective Questions," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(271), pages 335-357, August.
    5. Erzo F. P. Luttmer, 2005. "Neighbors as Negatives: Relative Earnings and Well-Being," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 120(3), pages 963-1002.
    6. Menno Pradhan & Martin Ravallion, 2000. "Measuring Poverty Using Qualitative Perceptions Of Consumption Adequacy," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(3), pages 462-471, August.
    7. Tahir Mahmood & Xiaohua Yu & Stephan Klasen, 2019. "Do the Poor Really Feel Poor? Comparing Objective Poverty with Subjective Poverty in Pakistan," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 142(2), pages 543-580, April.
    8. JeongHee Yeo & Yoon G. Lee, 2019. "Correction to: Understanding the Association Between Perceived Financial Well-Being and Life Satisfaction Among Older Adults: Does Social Capital Play a Role?," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 747-747, December.
    9. Barnay, Thomas & Juin, Sandrine, 2016. "Does home care for dependent elderly people improve their mental health?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 149-160.
    10. Murayama, Hiroshi & Nofuji, Yu & Matsuo, Eri & Nishi, Mariko & Taniguchi, Yu & Fujiwara, Yoshinori & Shinkai, Shoji, 2015. "Are neighborhood bonding and bridging social capital protective against depressive mood in old age? A multilevel analysis in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 171-179.
    11. Qian Sun & Nan Lu, 2020. "Social Capital and Mental Health among Older Adults Living in Urban China in the Context of COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-11, October.
    12. Hyun Jin Lee & Dong Kun Lee & Wonkyong Song, 2019. "Relationships between Social Capital, Social Capital Satisfaction, Self-Esteem, and Depression among Elderly Urban Residents: Analysis of Secondary Survey Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-13, April.
    13. Theo Goedhart & Victor Halberstadt & Arie Kapteyn & Bernard van Praag, 1977. "The Poverty Line: Concept and Measurement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 12(4), pages 503-520.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Koen Caminada & Kees Goudswaard & Qingqi Liu & Chen Wang & Jinxian Wang, 2024. "Determinants of Elderly Poverty in 21 European Countries, 1995-2022," LIS Working papers 882, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Siu Ming Chan & Hung Wong, 2020. "Impact of Income, Deprivation and Social Exclusion on Subjective Poverty: A Structural Equation Model of Multidimensional Poverty in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 971-990, December.
    2. Filandri, Marianna & Pasqua, Silvia & Struffolino, Emanuela, 2020. "Being Working Poor or Feeling Working Poor? The Role of Work Intensity and Job Stability for Subjective Poverty," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 147(3), pages 781-803.
    3. Jinan Zeidan, 2015. "Are Comparisons Luxuries? Subjective Poverty and Positional Concerns in Indonesia," AMSE Working Papers 1505, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    4. Ravallion, Martin & Himelein, Kristen & Beegle, Kathleen, 2013. "Can subjective questions on economic welfare be trusted ? evidence for three developing countries," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6726, The World Bank.
    5. Zsoka Koczan, 2022. "Perceptions of economic well‐being in the Western Balkans," Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 30(4), pages 845-867, October.
    6. Verónica Amarante & Maira Colacce & Federico Scalese, 2024. "Poverty in Latin America: feelings/perceptions Vs. material conditions," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 24-01, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    7. Martin Ravallion & Shaohua Chen, 2011. "Weakly Relative Poverty," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1251-1261, November.
    8. Ada Ferrer-i-Carbonell, 2002. "Subjective Questions to Measure Welfare and Well-being," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 02-020/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    9. Rojas, Mariano, 2009. "Economía de la felicidad. Hallazgos relevantes respecto al ingreso y el bienestar," El Trimestre Económico, Fondo de Cultura Económica, vol. 0(303), pages 537-573, julio-sep.
    10. Beegle, Kathleen & Himelein, Kristen & Ravallion, Martin, 2012. "Frame-of-reference bias in subjective welfare," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 556-570.
    11. Andreas Forø Tollefsen, 2020. "Experienced poverty and local conflict violence," Conflict Management and Peace Science, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 37(3), pages 323-349, May.
    12. Dartanto, Teguh & Otsubo, Shigeru, 2013. "Measurements and Determinants of Multifaceted Poverty:Absolute, Relative, and Subjective Poverty in Indonesia," Working Papers 54, JICA Research Institute.
    13. Jinan Zeidan, 2015. "Are Comparisons Luxuries? Subjective Poverty and Positional Concerns in Indonesia," Working Papers halshs-01114396, HAL.
    14. Tomáš Želinský & Martina Mysíková & Thesia I. Garner, 2022. "Trends in Subjective Income Poverty Rates in the European Union," The European Journal of Development Research, Palgrave Macmillan;European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes (EADI), vol. 34(5), pages 2493-2516, October.
    15. Giuseppina Guagnano & Elisabetta Santarelli & Isabella Santini, 2016. "Can Social Capital Affect Subjective Poverty in Europe? An Empirical Analysis Based on a Generalized Ordered Logit Model," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(2), pages 881-907, September.
    16. Castro, Damaris & Bleys, Brent, 2023. "Do people think they have enough? A subjective income sufficiency assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 205(C).
    17. Jin, Olivia S. & Wunnava, Phanindra V., 2020. "Feeling Richer and Happier? Self-Perceived Economic Welfare and Life Satisfaction: Evidence of 'Easterlin Paradox' from Russian Longitudinal Data," GLO Discussion Paper Series 625, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    18. Ferrer-i-Carbonell, Ada & van Praag, Bernard M. S., 2001. "Poverty in the Russian Federation," IZA Discussion Papers 259, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Andrew E. Clark & Claudia Senik, 2010. "Will GDP growth increase happiness in developing countries?," PSE Working Papers halshs-00564985, HAL.
    20. Michael Lokshin & Nithin Umapathi & Stefano Paternostro, 2006. "Robustness of subjective welfare analysis in a poor developing country: Madagascar 2001," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(4), pages 559-591.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:20:y:2023:i:17:p:6672-:d:1227707. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.