Coping strategies, stigmatizing attitude, and cyberbullying among Chinese college students during the COVID-19 lockdown.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic provides hotbed for hatred and violence, which could be especially true among college students, the most active users of internet and social media. Based on a national sample of Chinese college students (N = 1,673), the present study aims to explore the clustered nature of stress coping strategies, as well as its associations with the participants' stigmatizing attitude and cyberbullying behaviors towards people in Hubei Province, the place where the first COVID-19 case was reported and recognized as China's epicenter of the pandemic. Four latent subgroups were first identified among the participants based on type and comparative adoption rate of their coping strategies, namely the emotional coping group, the inactive coping group, the support-seeking and positive coping group, and the independent and positive coping group. The significant associations between coping strategy patterns and stigmatizing attitude and cyberbullying behaviors were reported, respectively. The two were most likely to happen among the participants using emotional coping while the least likely among the independent and positive coping group. This study provides empirical supports for combating the secondary disasters of the pandemic, namely stigma and cyberbullying, by identifying the role of emotional and positive coping strategies.

The association between Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance and depressive symptoms among Chinese middle-aged and older adults: Evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study.

It is unclear that whether Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) is associated with depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults. To fulfill this research gap, this study aimed to investigate the association between URRBMI and depressive symptoms among the middle-aged and older adults in China. This data of this study was sourced from the 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models were used to explore the association between URRBMI and depressive symptoms. Instrumental variable (IV) method was employed to address potential endogeneity problem which is caused by reverse causation and omitted variable bias. Propensity score matching (PSM) and doubly robust estimation were employed to conduct robustness checks. We provide robust evidence indicating that participation of URRBMI was significantly correlated with a reduced depression score. Moreover, we find that improving the utilization of inpatient and outpatient care may be important channels through which URRBMI relieved depressive symptoms.

The contribution of Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance to income-related inequality in depression among middle-aged and older adults: Evidence from China.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have not investigated the contribution of medical insurance to income-related inequality in depressive symptoms. To fulfill this research gap, this study aimed to assess the contribution of Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) to income-related inequality in depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults in China. METHODS: The data of this study was obtained from the 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The data of Particulate Matter 2.5 (PM2.5) concentrations were sourced from Atmospheric Composition Analysis Group. Furthermore, concentration curve and concentration index were employed to measure the extent of income-related inequality in depressive symptoms. Moreover, decomposition method of concentration index was used to quantify the contribution of URRBMI to the income-related inequality in depressive symptoms. RESULTS: The concentration index values of depression occurrence and score were -0.1067 and -0.0712, respectively, indicating pro-rich inequality. The decomposition results reveal that the contribution rate of URRBMI to concentration index of depression occurrence was 18.88%, which indicates that it reduced the pro-rich inequality in depression occurrence. In addition, the contribution rate of URRBMI to concentration index of depression score was 3.55%, indicating that it relieved the pro-rich inequality in depression score. CONCLUSION: This study found pro-rich inequalities in depression occurrence and score which were reduced with the coverage of URRBMI. It is quite necessary to further expand the coverage of URRBMI.

The effect of social participation on income-related inequality in health outcome among Chinese older adults.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the effect of social participation on income-related inequality in health outcome among older adults in China. METHODS: The panel data used in this study were sourced from the 2011 and 2014 waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Furthermore, this study employed a concentration index to assess the income-related inequality in health outcome. Moreover, this study used the decomposition method of concentration index to analyse the effect of social participation on income-related inequality in health outcome. RESULTS: The total concentration index of Instrumental Activity of Daily Living (IADL) status decreased from 0.0257 in 2011 to 0.0172 in 2014. Furthermore, the total concentration index of psychological health decreased from 0.0309 in 2011 to 0.0269 in 2014. The decomposition analysis indicates that social participation made a major contribution to the pro-rich inequality in IADL status. Moreover, the results also indicate that social participation made a minor contribution to the pro-rich inequality in psychological health. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that overall there were pro-rich inequalities in IADL status and psychological health among older adults in China. Moreover, social participation made a major contribution to the pro-rich inequality in IADL status, while it made a minor contribution to the pro-rich inequality in psychological health.

Internet use and self-rated health among Chinese older adults: The mediating role of social capital.

AIM: This study aimed to examine the relationship between Internet use and self-rated health among older adults in China, with a particular focus on the mediating role of social capital. METHODS: The data used in this study was obtained from the 2018 wave of China Family Panel Studies, including 7193 older adults aged between 60 and 95 years in urban and rural areas. Furthermore, a binary logit regression model was used to explore the association between Internet use and self-rated health among older adults. Moreover, we investigated the mediating effect of social capital on the relationship between Internet use and self-rated health among older adults. RESULTS: The overall regression results show that Internet use was significantly associated with a higher possibility of being healthy for older adults. In addition, social capital plays a mediating role in the relationship between Internet use and self-rated health among the older adults. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that Internet use was positively related to self-rated health for the older adults. In addition, this study finds that social capital mediates the relationship between Internet use and self-rated health among the older adults. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2021; 21: 34-38.

The Dually Negative Effect of Industrial Polluting Enterprises on China's Air Pollution: A Provincial Panel Data Analysis Based on Environmental Regulation Theory.

Although the Chinese government has promulgated a series of policies to mitigate air pollution, the air quality in a number of Chinese cities still has the potential to be improved. As the major source of air pollution, enterprises in the industrial and energy sectors are the most difficult to regulate in terms of polluting emissions. This paper aims to investigate what factors influence the intensity of environmental regulations on polluting enterprises based on environmental regulation theory and an empirical test. Firstly, this article builds a theoretic model of optimal regulation supply for local governments in order to examine the relationship between factors influencing the intensity of environmental regulation. Secondly, we use provincial panel data from 2008 to 2015 to test the theoretical hypothesis and use the generalized method of moments (GMM), the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method to address the endogeneity issue. The main finding of the study is that, in regions with a high concentration of polluting enterprises, not only is there more air pollution than in other regions, but the local governments might show partiality towards the polluting enterprises, which could impede the implementation of environmental regulation.

How does personal relative deprivation affect mental health among the older adults in China? Evidence from panel data analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The mental health has become an important public health issue in China. This study aimed to use panel data to explore how personal relative deprivation affects mental health among older adults in China. METHODS: The panel data of this study was obtained from the 2011 and 2014 waves of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Furthermore, we used a panel data model to investigate the effect of personal relative deprivation on mental health among the older adults. RESULTS: Results from the panel data model show that greater feelings of relative economic deprivation were associated with lower level of cognitive function (coefficient = -0.3706, p < 0.01). Relative economic status adversely affected the psychological health (coefficient = -0.3636, p < 0.001). Social participation, physical exercise, and smoking accounted for 3.13%, 1.43%, and 0.19% of the effect of relative economic status on cognitive function, respectively. The most important channel involving the effect of relative economic status on psychological health is social participation (1.62%), followed by physical exercise (0.80%) and smoking (0.14%). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that personal relative deprivation has negative effects on cognitive function and psychological health. Furthermore, the regression results also indicate that the negative health effect of personal relative deprivation shows significant age, gender, and urban-rural disparities. Moreover, there is evidence that social participation is an important transmission channel involving the effect of personal relative deprivation on mental health. Reducing personal relative deprivation can improve the mental health of the older adults.

Social participation and urban-rural disparity in mental health among older adults in China.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the effect of social participation on disparity in mental health among urban and rural older adults in China. METHODS: The data used in this study was sourced from the 2014 wave of Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Furthermore, multiple linear regression model was adopted to analyze the effect of social participation on mental health. Moreover, Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition for linear model was applied to explore the effect of social participation on urban-rural disparity in mental health. RESULTS: The regression result indicates that social participation significantly improved cognitive ability and psychological health for urban and rural older adults, and its health effect was significantly stronger for rural older adults. Furthermore, the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition result reveals that approximately 18% of cognitive ability disparity could be attributed to urban-rural disparity in social participation. Moreover, urban-rural disparity in social participation could explain about 11% of psychological health disparity. CONCLUSION: Urban older adults had better mental health than their rural counterparts. Furthermore, social participation was beneficial for mental health for urban and rural older adults. Urban-rural disparity in social participation made an important contribution to mental health disparity between urban and rural older adults. The results of this study emphasized the importance of social participation of older adults.

Socioeconomic Inequality in Health Outcomes Among the Elderly: Evidence from a Cross-Sectional Study in China.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Health is viewed as a form of human capital and a necessary basis for people to realize capabilities. Moreover, socioeconomic inequality in health outcome widens income inequality and exacerbates social inequality. The aim of this study is to measure socioeconomic inequality in health outcomes among the elderly in China. METHODS: The data used in this study were sourced from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2015, including 5643 participants aged 60 and above. Concentration curve and concentration index were applied to measure the extent of socioeconomic inequality in health outcomes among older adults. Furthermore, the decomposition method of concentration index proposed by Wagstaff was employed to quantify each determinant's contribution to the measured socioeconomic inequality in health outcomes. RESULTS: The concentration index of Activity of Daily Living Scale and Center of Epidemiological Survey-Depression Scale score were -0.0064 and -0.0158, respectively, indicating pro-rich inequality in physical and mental health among the elderly. The decomposition analysis revealed that household income (41.15%), aged 70-79 (17.37%), being male (8.38%), and living in urban area (5.78%) were key factors to explain the pro-rich inequality in physical health. Furthermore, the results also suggested that household income (68.41%), being male (17.55%), having junior high school education (10.67%), and living in urban area (6.49%) were key factors to explain the pro-rich inequality in mental health. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that there are pro-rich inequalities in physical and mental health among the elderly in China, and the degree of pro-rich inequality in mental health is higher than that in physical health. Moreover, the results also suggested that household income is the biggest contributor to socioeconomic inequality in physical and mental health. Furthermore, this study found that educational attainment makes a substantial contribution to socioeconomic inequality in health outcomes, while the contribution of health insurance to health inequality is limited.

Does Health Insurance Lead to Improvement of Health Status Among Chinese Rural Adults? Evidence From the China Family Panel Studies.

The purpose of this study is to examine the causal relationship between the New Rural Cooperative Medical Scheme (NRCMS) and health status among Chinese rural adults. The data were drawn from China Family Panel Studies performed in 2016, involving 2,093 rural adults. Furthermore, this study employed k-nearest neighbor matching out of propensity score matching (PSM) to investigate the impact of NRCMS on health status among rural adults. Moreover, radius matching, kernel matching, and nearest-neighbor matching within caliper out of PSM were adopted to conduct sensitivity analyses. This study demonstrates that NRCMS enrollment has had a significant and positive effect on the self-assessed and mental health of rural adults, and the health effect shows significant age and income disparities. Moreover, the positive health effect may result from 2 channels, including the increase of health services utilization and the fact that adults with NRCMS are more likely to seek health care in lower-level medical institutions.

The Relationship Between Social Capital and Depressive Symptoms Among the Elderly in China: The Mediating Role of Life Satisfaction.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Depression has become a serious health and social issue in recent years in China. This study aims to explore the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms among the elderly in China, with a particular focus on the mediating role of life satisfaction. METHODS: The data of this study were sourced from the 2016 wave of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), involving 1243 older adults aged 60 and above. A multiple linear regression model was used to explore the impact of social capital on depressive symptoms. Moreover, the add-on PROCESS macro for SPSS was employed to measure the mediating effect of life satisfaction on the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms. RESULTS: The regression results suggest that CES-D score was associated with trust (coefficient = -0.1013, p < 0.01). In addition, the protective role of trust was significantly stronger for older adults aged 70-79, women, the poorest 1/3, and the elderly who live in rural areas. Moreover, the mediation analysis results suggest that the effect of trust on depressive symptoms was fully mediated by life satisfaction. CONCLUSION: This study reveals that social capital has a positive effect on depressive symptoms among the elderly, and the positive health effect shows significant age, gender, income, and location inequalities. Furthermore, this study also provides new evidence indicating that life satisfaction fully mediates the relationship between social capital and depressive symptoms. Improving social capital could be a promising way for China to promote healthy aging in the future.

The effect of medical insurance on catastrophic health expenditure: evidence from China.

BACKGROUND: The Chinese government has established a nationwide multiple-level medical insurance system. However, catastrophic health expenditure (CHE) causes great harm to the quality of life of households and pushes them into poverty. The objective of this paper is to assess the effect of medical insurance on CHE in China and compare the financial protection effects of different medical insurances. METHODS: Panel data were obtained from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) conducted in the years of 2012, 2014, and 2016. CHE incidence was measured by performing a headcount, and its intensity was estimated using overshoot and mean positive overshoot (MPO). In addition, concentration index (CI) was used to measure the degree of socioeconomic inequality of CHE occurrence. Furthermore, random effects panel Probit regression model was employed to assess the effect of medical insurance on CHE. Lastly, random effects panel Logit regression model was adopted to perform a robustness check. RESULTS: From 2012 to 2016, the total CHE incidence jumped from 15.05% to 15.24%, and the CI in CHE changed from - 0.0076 to - 0.1512. Moreover, the total overshoot increased from 0.0333 to 0.0344, while the total MPO grew from 0.2213 to 0.2257. Furthermore, the global regression results show that residents covered by Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) were linked to a decreased probability of experiencing CHE. In addition, the regression results by gender indicate that SMI coverage for male residents had a significant effect on the prevention of CHE, while the effect was not significant for female residents. The regression results by health status show that SMI had a significant impact on reducing the likelihood of CHE occurrence for healthy residents, whilst the impact was not significant for unhealthy residents. Lastly, the robustness check results were consistent with those of previous findings. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that CHE incidence and intensity became relatively higher among households. In addition, CHE occurrence was concentrated among the poorer households and the equality status worsened. Moreover, financial protection effects of the four medical insurance schemes against CHE varied significantly. Furthermore, the protection effect of SMI against CHE shows significant gender and health status disparities.

The impacts of socioeconomic status and lifestyle on health status of residents: Evidence from Chinese General Social Survey data.

INTRODUCTION: There remain distinct regional and urban-rural health status disparities amidst the background of China's rapid economic growth, posing important challenges to policymakers. The objectives of this study are to examine the relationships between socioeconomic status, lifestyle, and health status and to compare the effect disparities in eastern, central, and western regions, urban and rural areas of China. METHODS: This paper employed data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) conducted in 2015. In addition, ordered probit model was adopted to explore the impacts of socioeconomic status and lifestyle on health status of residents. RESULTS: The results indicate that socioeconomic status factors, including income and social class, show statistically significant and positive correlation to health status. Furthermore, lifestyle factors, for example physical exercise and friend interaction, are statistically significant and positively related to health status. Moreover, the effect of lifestyle on health status in eastern, central, and western regions varies greatly. Finally, marital status, education, physical exercise, and friend interaction exhibit statistically disparate effects on health status in both urban and rural areas. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows that socioeconomic status and lifestyle have significant effects on resident's health status, and the effects show significant regional and urban-rural disparities.