Working Paper: NBER ID: w26690
Authors: Yi Chen; Hanming Fang
Abstract: China introduced its stringent family planning policies from the early 1970s, known as the "Later, Longer, Fewer" policies, and followed it with the One-Child Policy from 1979. The number of children born to Chinese parents significantly decreased from 5.7 in late 1960s to 2.5 in 1988. In Chen and Fang (2019), we show that family planning policies have drastically different effects on elderly parents' physical and mental well-beings. Whereas parents more exposed to the family planning policies consume more and enjoy slightly better physical health status, they report more severe depression symptoms. In this paper, we present a more complete picture of the difference in mental health among residents in rural and urban areas, between males and females, between different education groups, between those with one child and those with more than one children, and between widowed and non-widowed. We highlight the role of family support (from children and spouse) for the mental health status among the elderly Chinese.
Keywords: Mental Health; Elderly; Family Planning Policies; China
JEL Codes: H31; I15; I18; J13
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Family planning policies (J13) | Number of children born (J13) |
| Number of children born (J13) | Mental health outcomes (I12) |
| Fewer children (J13) | Increased feelings of loneliness (I39) |
| Increased feelings of loneliness (I39) | Increased depression symptoms (I12) |
| Educational attainment (I21) | Mental health outcomes (I12) |
| Urban residency (R23) | Mental health outcomes (I12) |
| Widowhood (J12) | Mental health issues (I12) |