Income and Health in Predicting Older Adults’ Social Capabilities in China

October 17, 2022

In a new article published in the Social Indicators Research, Yalu Zhang, Qin Gao, Fuhua Zhai and Paul Anand provide new evidence on the effects of income and health on the social capabilities of older adults in China and the possible mediating role of social engagement in this relationship. Findings from the study indicate that both income and health showed consistent and positive effects on social capabilities of older adults in China.

The study used the World Health Organization Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (WHO-SAGE) data collected in China between 2007 and 2010 from 10,218 households. The authors found that the social capabilities of freedom of expression and sense of safety played important mediating roles in the associations between physical and cognitive functioning and social engagement among rural older adults. However, these same result patterns were not found among urban older adults.

This study is innovative in its consideration of multiple domains of social capabilities and examination of the mediating role of social engagement which provided evidence for future program and social service implementation across the rural-urban settings in China.

The article can be accessed here.

Columbia Affiliations
China Center for Social Policy