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A study on the effects of family size, social support, and mental health status on the subjective well-being of older adults in urban communities-a case from Shaanxi Province

Chi Zhang, School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University

Abstract Socio-economic development has led to a trend of smaller size, core structure, and discrete residence of urban community households, with a consequent weakening function of Chinese families and a declining trend of subjective well-being of the older adults. The structural equation modeling to study the mechanisms of family size, social support and mental health status on the subjective well-being of community older adults, and the results show that family size has an indirect effect on the subjective well-being of community older adults women through influencing social support; social support has a direct effect on the subjective well-being of community older adults, as shown by social The stronger the social support, the higher the subjective well-being and the indirect effect of social support on the subjective well-being of the older adults in the community through the influence of mental health status; the direct effect of mental health status on the subjective well-being of the older adults in the community is both direct and indirect, the better the mental health status, the higher the subjective well-being, and the indirect effect is through the influence of family size affects the subjective well-being of the older adults in the community.

Keywords: Older adults, Policy, Population ageing, Health and morbidity

See extended abstract.

  Presented in Session 54. Intergenerational and Social Support among Older Persons