IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/eujoag/v18y2021i4d10.1007_s10433-021-00608-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Childhood adversity and healthy ageing: a study of the Chinese older population

Author

Listed:
  • Bo Hu

    (London School of Economics and Political Science)

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between childhood adversities and healthy ageing in the Chinese older population. The data come from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS), a national survey that collected life history and ageing-related information on 9248 older people aged over 60 in 2014 and 2015. The analysis of healthy ageing focuses on seven indicators: IADL limitations, ADL limitations, cognitive functioning, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, self-reported health, and chronic illness. Using k-means clustering, an unsupervised learning technique, we identified four qualitatively different groups according to their achievement in healthy ageing. We studied 17 types of childhood adversities and found that experiencing multiple childhood adversities is associated with a lower probability of achieving healthy ageing. This relationship is moderated by age and gender. Women are more vulnerable than men to the negative impacts of childhood adversities. The threat of childhood adversities to healthy ageing is greatly attenuated among people aged over 80. We argue that the policy response to healthy ageing should not be confined to those services and programmes that directly target older people. Instead, healthy ageing can be better addressed by concerted efforts in different areas of social policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Bo Hu, 2021. "Childhood adversity and healthy ageing: a study of the Chinese older population," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 523-535, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:eujoag:v:18:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-021-00608-8
    DOI: 10.1007/s10433-021-00608-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10433-021-00608-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10433-021-00608-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Emily Hannum, 2005. "Market transition, educational disparities, and family strategies in rural china: New evidence on gender stratification and development," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(2), pages 275-299, May.
    2. Else Foverskov & Gitte Lindved Petersen & Jolene Lee Masters Pedersen & Naja Hulvej Rod & Erik Lykke Mortensen & Helle Bruunsgaard & Rikke Lund, 2020. "Economic hardship over twenty-two consecutive years of adult life and markers of early ageing: physical capability, cognitive function and inflammation," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 55-67, March.
    3. Verbrugge, Lois M. & Jette, Alan M., 1994. "The disablement process," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 1-14, January.
    4. Amit Shrira & Howard Litwin, 2014. "The Effect of Lifetime Cumulative Adversity and Depressive Symptoms on Functional Status," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(6), pages 953-965.
    5. Bo Hu & Deborah Carr, 2021. "Is Bullying Victimization in Childhood Associated With Mental Health in Old Age [The long-term impact]," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(1), pages 161-172.
    6. Hu, Bo, 2020. "Trajectories of informal care intensity among the oldest-old Chinese," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    7. Anna Makles, 2012. "Stata tip 110: How to get the optimal k-means cluster solution," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 12(2), pages 347-351, June.
    8. Galit Weinstein, 2016. "Childhood conditions and current physical performance among non-institutionalized individuals aged 50+ in Israel," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 335-347, December.
    9. Brimblecombe, Nicola & Evans-Lacko, Sara & Knapp, Martin & King, Derek & Takizawa, Ryu & Maughan, Barbara & Arseneault, Louise, 2018. "Long term economic impact associated with childhood bullying victimisation," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 134-141.
    10. Shannon T. Mejía & Lindsay H. Ryan & Richard Gonzalez & Jacqui Smith, 2017. "Successful Aging as the Intersection of Individual Resources, Age, Environment, and Experiences of Well-being in Daily Activities," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 72(2), pages 279-289.
    11. World Health Organisation (WHO), 2015. "World Report on Ageing and Health," Working Papers id:7816, eSocialSciences.
    12. Duane F. Alwin, 2012. "Integrating Varieties of Life Course Concepts," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 67(2), pages 206-220.
    13. Alina Schmitz & Patrick Lazarevič, 2020. "The gender health gap in Europe’s ageing societies: universal findings across countries and age groups?," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 17(4), pages 509-520, December.
    14. Georgia Verropoulou & Eleni Serafetinidou, 2019. "Childhood and adulthood circumstances predicting affective suffering and motivation among older adults: a comparative study of European welfare systems," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 425-438, December.
    15. Scott D. Landes & Monika Ardelt & George E. Vaillant & Robert J. Waldinger, 2014. "Childhood Adversity, Midlife Generativity, and Later Life Well-Being," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(6), pages 942-952.
    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. Yuqi Yan & Liqing Cai & Nan Lu, 2022. "Childhood experiences and frailty trajectory among middle-aged and older adults in China," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1601-1615, December.

    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. Newton, Nicky J. & Ryan, Lindsay H. & King, Rachel T. & Smith, Jacqui, 2014. "Cohort differences in the marriage–health relationship for midlife women," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 64-72.
    2. Bo Hu & Deborah Carr, 2021. "Is Bullying Victimization in Childhood Associated With Mental Health in Old Age [The long-term impact]," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 76(1), pages 161-172.
    3. Bo Hu & Javiera Cartagena-Farias & Nicola Brimblecombe, 2022. "Functional disability and utilisation of long-term care in the older population in England: a dual trajectory analysis," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1363-1373, December.
    4. Ang, Shannon, 2019. "Intersectional cohort change: Disparities in mobility limitations among older Singaporeans," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 228(C), pages 223-231.
    5. Zhen Li & Zai Liang, 2016. "Gender and job mobility among rural to urban temporary migrants in the Pearl River Delta in China," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 53(16), pages 3455-3471, December.
    6. van Zon, Sander K.R. & Bültmann, Ute & Reijneveld, Sijmen A. & de Leon, Carlos F. Mendes, 2016. "Functional health decline before and after retirement: A longitudinal analysis of the Health and Retirement Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 26-34.
    7. Klaus Mittenzwei & Wolfgang Britz, 2018. "Analysing Farm‐specific Payments for Norway using the Agrispace Model," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 69(3), pages 777-793, September.
    8. Badley, Elizabeth M., 2008. "Enhancing the conceptual clarity of the activity and participation components of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2335-2345, June.
    9. Alan de Brauw & John Giles, 2017. "Migrant Opportunity and the Educational Attainment of Youth in Rural China," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 52(1), pages 272-311.
    10. Plaisier, Inger & Verbeek-Oudijk, Debbie & de Klerk, Mirjam, 2017. "Developments in home-care use. Policy and changing community-based care use by independent community-dwelling adults in the Netherlands," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(1), pages 82-89.
    11. Lee, Christopher Thomas & Guzman, David & Ponath, Claudia & Tieu, Lina & Riley, Elise & Kushel, Margot, 2016. "Residential patterns in older homeless adults: Results of a cluster analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 131-140.
    12. Gianluca Trotta & Kirsten Gram-Hanssen & Pernille Lykke Jørgensen, 2020. "Heterogeneity of Electricity Consumption Patterns in Vulnerable Households," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-17, September.
    13. Gangfei Luo & Shouzhen Zeng & Tomas Baležentis, 2022. "Multidimensional Measurement and Comparison of China’s Educational Inequality," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(2), pages 857-874, September.
    14. Asya Pisarevskaya & Peter Scholten & Zeynep Kaşlı, 2022. "Classifying the Diversity of Urban Diversities: an Inductive Analysis of European Cities," Journal of International Migration and Integration, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 655-677, June.
    15. Levasseur, Mélanie & Richard, Lucie & Gauvin, Lise & Raymond, Émilie, 2010. "Inventory and analysis of definitions of social participation found in the aging literature: Proposed taxonomy of social activities," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 71(12), pages 2141-2149, December.
    16. Wei Chen & Ya Fang & Fanzhen Mao & Shichao Hao & Junze Chen & Manqiong Yuan & Yaofeng Han & Y Alicia Hong, 2015. "Assessment of Disability among the Elderly in Xiamen of China: A Representative Sample Survey of 14,292 Older Adults," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(6), pages 1-12, June.
    17. Sebastiano Cattaruzzo & Giancarlo Corò & Roshan Borsato, 2024. "Technological complexity and international reach in SMEs: an empirical investigation in an industrial region," Working Papers 2024: 16, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    18. Mulabdic, Alen & Rotunno, Lorenzo, 2022. "Trade barriers in government procurement," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    19. Sharon Shiovitz-Ezra, 2016. "Antecedents of late life outcomes: the case of Israel," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 281-285, December.
    20. West, Jessica S., 2017. "Hearing impairment, social support, and depressive symptoms among U.S. adults: A test of the stress process paradigm," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 192(C), pages 94-101.

    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:spr:eujoag:v:18:y:2021:i:4:d:10.1007_s10433-021-00608-8. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.