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Family Companionship and Elderly Suicide: Evidence from the Chinese Lunar New Year

Author

Listed:
  • Hanming Fang
  • Ziteng Lei
  • Liguo Lin
  • Peng Zhang

Abstract

Mental health problems among the elderly have attracted increasing attention. The most serious mental health problems may result in suicide, and lack of family companionship is often speculated to be a major cause. In this paper, we use high-frequency suicide rate data and utilize a novel temporal variation in the lunisolar calendar to provide evidence on the protective effects of the Chinese Lunar New Year (when the elderly people receive unusually high level of family companionship) on elderly suicide. We find that elderly suicide rate decreases by 8.7% during the Chinese Lunar New Year. In addition, the protective effects are stronger in counties where the typical level of daily family companionship for the elderly is lower. By contrast, we do not find similar protective effects for young and middle-age cohorts. We consider a variety of alternative mechanisms, and conclude that family companionship is an important channel for the protective effects of the Chinese Lunar New Year. Our study calls for greater attention to the mental health status and suicide problem of the elderly, especially with the rapid population aging and increasing prevalence of the “empty-nest” elderly in developing countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanming Fang & Ziteng Lei & Liguo Lin & Peng Zhang, 2021. "Family Companionship and Elderly Suicide: Evidence from the Chinese Lunar New Year," NBER Working Papers 28566, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28566
    Note: AG DEV PE
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    Cited by:

    1. Yan, Zheming & Yu, Ying & Du, Kerui & Zhang, Ning, 2024. "How does environmental regulation promote green technology innovation? Evidence from China's total emission control policy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    2. Luojia Wang & Kerui Du & Bin Fang & Rob Law, 2023. "Escape from air pollution: How does air quality in the place of residence shape tourism consumption?," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(4), pages 1074-1099, June.
    3. Bai, Jin & Tang, Jue & Xie, Qiang, 2022. "Does children’s marriage matter for parents' mental health？Evidence from China," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination

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