The effects of a wife’s retirement on her husband’s mental health among older adults in China

Chen, Simiao; Hao, Zhuang; Bärnighausen, Till

doi:10.1080/13504851.2021.1965081

Cited by 2 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The statutory retirement age (SRA) is 60 years for men and 50 years for women in urban China. For female civil servants, who only constitute a small portion of the population, the SRA is 55 (Chen et al., 2021). In principle, individuals are required to process retirement when reaching the SRA, although early or late retirement is possible in certain circumstances (Zhang et al., 2018).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Parents are defined as retired at the time of the interview if they reported being retired regardless of whether they had a paid job at that time (Feng et al., 2020). Following previous studies (Chen et al., 2021; Zhang et al., 2018), we exclude adult children whose parents neither work nor report processed retirement. Observations with fathers under 40 or over 80 years old (20 years or further from the SRA) are excluded from the analyses of paternal retirement (leaving us with 8247 observations), and observations with mothers under 30 or over 70 (20 years or further from the SRA) are excluded from the analyses of maternal retirement (leaving us with 8229 observations).…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We adopt a FRD design as our identification strategy. Specifically, we follow previous literature (Chen et al., 2020a, 2020b, 2021; Li et al., 2015; Zang, 2020; Zhang et al., 2018; Zhao et al., 2022) and exploit the exogenous changes in parental retirement likelihood caused by China's statutory retirement requirement (SRA = 60 for men and SRA = 50 for women) to identify the causal effect of parental retirement on adult children's health outcomes.…”

Section: Empirical Strategy: Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is an imperative to comprehensively explore and investigate the effects of retirement. Previous studies have examined the causal effects of retirement on the health of retirees and their spouses (Bloemen et al., 2017; Chen et al., 2020a, 2021; Eibich, 2015; Heller‐Sahlgren, 2017; Lei & Liu, 2018; Müller & Shaikh, 2018; Zang, 2020; Zhang et al., 2018). Surprisingly, very few studies have investigated the intergenerational effects of retirement 1 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The effects of parental retirement on adult children's health: Evidence from China

Hao,

Cheng,

Bärnighausen

et al. 2023

Health Economics

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Using representative data from China, we examine the causal effects of parental retirement on the health of adult children. To do so, we adopt a fuzzy regression discontinuity design and exploit the mandatory retirement ages in China as cut‐off points. We find no evidence that parental retirement has significant effects on the mental health, healthcare utilization, or risky health behaviors of adult children. However, paternal retirement and maternal retirement have different effects on adult children's Self‐reported health (SRH). Paternal retirement has a significantly negative effect only on the SRH of sons, while maternal retirement does not induce such effects. Potential mechanisms of intergenerational transfer through which parental retirement might affect adult children's health are also explored.

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Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Empirical Strategy: Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Designmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The effects of parental retirement on adult children's health: Evidence from China

Hao,

Cheng,

Bärnighausen

et al. 2023

Health Economics

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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The Asymmetric Spillover Effects of Retirement on Disability: Evidence From China

Bai,

Hao,

Cheng

et al. 2024

Innovation in Aging

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Background and Objectives Recent research has explored the spillover effects of retirement on spousal well-being, yet limited attention has been given to the short-term impact on spousal disability. This study explored the asymmetric spillover impact of retirement on spouses’ disability severity among a national cohort of urban residents in China. Research Design and Methods Utilizing four waves of data (2011-2018) from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS), we employ a non-parametric regression discontinuity design to estimate the short-term effect of retirement on spousal disability severity. Disability is assessed based on their ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs). Furthermore, we conduct heterogeneity analysis stratified by factors such as the husband's retirement status, health conditions, lifestyle behaviors and the wife's educational level. Additionally, we explore potential mechanisms including changes in health behaviors, emotions, and disease diagnoses. Results Our findings indicate that wives' retirement has a significant favorable short-term effect on husbands' ADL scores, with a magnitude of -0.644 points (- 9.78% relative to baseline). Significant beneficial effect of wives’ retirement on the prevalence of husbands’ difficulty in dressing, bathing and eating were observed, with substantial magnitude of 0.075, 0.201, and 0.051 points, respectively. Various heterogeneity analysis and sensitivity tests confirmed the robustness of our results. The positive spillover effect of wives' retirement likely results from reduced negative emotions in husbands. In contrast, husbands' retirement does not impact the prevalence of ADL/IADL disability in their wives. Discussion and Implications Underscoring the gender asymmetry in the effects of spousal retirement on disability, this study emphasizes the need for tailored policies considering men's and women's distinct disability experiences.

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The effects of a wife’s retirement on her husband’s mental health among older adults in China

Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

The effects of parental retirement on adult children's health: Evidence from China

The effects of parental retirement on adult children's health: Evidence from China

The Asymmetric Spillover Effects of Retirement on Disability: Evidence From China

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