Association of Formal and Informal Social Support With Health-Related Quality of Life Among Chinese Rural Elders

Abstract

Objectives: To explore the association of formal and informal social support with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) among Chinese rural elders and further investigate the influence of quantity and quality of social support on their HRQOL. Methods: The sample of 4189 Chinese rural elders over 60 years old was acquired from the 2015 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). The HRQOL was evaluated by EQ-5D-3L questionnaire. The social support assessment was mainly based on the social support rating scale (SSRS), and Tobit regression analysis was used to explore the impact of social support on HRQOL. Results: The average EQ-5D index score (0 to 1) of the Chinese rural elders was 0.78 ± 0.16. Participants who were male or with better education were found to have higher scores. Those elders living alone, suffering from chronic diseases or disabled acquired lower scores. As for formal social support, higher medical or pension insurance and more social activities statistically significantly possessed higher scores. As for informal social support, higher number of offspring had a significant association with lower scores, while more contact with children and financial support from family were shown to be statistically significantly associated with higher scores after controlling for sociodemographic characteristics. The quality of social support is more important than its quantity. An interesting finding was that the EQ-5D index scores did not support the Chinese traditional belief that ‘the more children, the more blessings’. Conclusions: The EQ-5D index scores of the rural elders in China is above the median level based on the scores of EQ-5D. Social support is significantly associated with elderly peoples’ quality of life. The results would be significant for accurately improving the life quality of Chinese rural elders from the perspective of social support.

Association Between Social Support and Mental Health in Pre-Old and Old Age: Is It Different Depends on the Object? A Cross-Sectional Study

“…Our investigation illustrated bene cial results of being a provider or a receiver of ESS or ISS on mental health, which echo previous studies [18,46]; but the positive associations were only among pre-old respondents. An available paper revealed a similar outcome of a more signi cant association on well-being in the younger-old group [47].…”

“…Social support is commonly subdivided into informal and formal support [18], perceived and received support [8,11], and emotional and instrumental support [18][19][20]. However, previous reports overlooked the object-speci c pattern.…”

A New Perspective of Urban–Rural Differences: The Impact of Social Support on the Mental Health of the Older Adults: A Case from Shaanxi Province, China

“…In formal support, health insurance and pension insurance significantly affect the health of the older adults [ 28 ]. The improvement of health insurance coverage and satisfaction can promote the improvement of the mental health of older adults [ 29 ].…”

Life Events and Quality of Life in the Chinese Population: The Mediating Role of Social Capital

“…In the context of Chinese culture, family is the main component of the social environment, and family support plays an important role in the lives of Chinese people. Good family nancial and emotional support can promote individual mental health and improve QoL [35][36][37].…”