Effect of social activity participation on self-rated mental health disparity between urban and rural older adults in China
10.3969/j.issn.1000-6729.2025.02.07
- VernacularTitle:社会活动参与对中国老年人自评心理健康城乡差异的影响
- Author:
Zhuang TIAN
1
;
Xueyi WANG
;
He YANG
;
Yueqin HUANG
;
Min ZHAI
;
Yan LIU
Author Information
1. 济宁医学院公共卫生学院,山东济宁 272067
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
social activity;
self-rated mental health;
urban-rural disparity
- From:
Chinese Mental Health Journal
2025;39(2):143-150
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Objective:To explore the effect of different types of social activity participation on self-rated men-tal health disparity between urban and rural older adults in China.Methods:The study data was sourced from the 2018 wave of Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS).Factor analysis was applied to divide social activities into three dimensions:entertainment activities,cultural activities,family and friend gatherings.Logistic regression model was adopted to analyze the effect of social activity on self-rated mental health.Fairlie decomposition model was ap-plied to explore the effect of social activity on urban-rural disparity in self-rated mental health.Results:The self-ra-ted good mental health proportion of urban old persons(n=3 139)was 72.0％,which was higher than that of rural old persons(n=1 549)(53.7％)(P＜0.001).Recreational activities and gatherings of friends and relatives sig-nificantly improved self-rated mental health in urban and rural old persons.Fairlie decomposition result revealed that approximately 18.7％of self-rated mental health disparity could be attributed to urban-rural disparity in entertain-ment activities.Moreover,urban-rural disparity in family and friends gatherings could explain about 3.9％of the disparity.Conclusion:Urban older adults have better mental health than their rural counterparts.Furthermore,social activity is beneficial to mental health for both urban and rural older adults.Urban-rural disparity in entertainment ac-tivities make an important contribution to mental health disparity between urban and rural older adults.
