The impact of social support on the quality of life among older adults in China: An empirical study based on the 2020 CFPS
Open accessAbstract
Background: As aging issues become serious, how to guarantee and improve the quality of life among older adults has become a hot topic in China. This article is aimed to discuss the impact of formal and informal social support on the quality of life among older adults and the differences in gender and urban–rural areas. Methods: The data used in this article are from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS). Quality of life is measured from three dimensions of life: satisfaction, self-rated health, and mental state. This article uses the ordered logistic regression model to analyze the impact of social support on life satisfaction and self-rated health, and the binary logistic regression model to analyze the impact of social support on the mental state. The method of Shapley value decomposition further analyzes the contribution of influencing factors to the quality of life. Results: The activities of daily living (ADL) and income significantly impact the quality of life among older adults. Formal and informal social support positively improved the quality of life among older adults, but the effect of informal social support is greater than that of formal social support. The male older adults are significantly better than the female adults across all three dimensions of quality of life. The mental state of urban older adults is better than that of rural older adults. Conclusion: Formal and informal social support should be strengthened to improve the income of older adults. Older adults should be encouraged to participate in social activities and good interpersonal relationships should be established actively. Female older adults should be paid more attention. The proportion of female older adults participating in insurance should be increased, and the family and intergenerational care burden for female older adults should be reduced. The leisure life of urban older adults should be enriched. The basic social insurance and health service systems in rural areas should be improved.
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Positive environmental exposures such as the Mediterranean diet and strong community networks are associated with improved longevity.
“Studies have shown that positive environmental exposures—such as the Mediterranean diet and strong community networks—are associated with improved longevity, whereas chronic stress and pollutants accelerate aging and increase the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) [10,11,12,13].”
From The Power of Environment: A Comprehensive Review of the Exposome's Role in Healthy Aging, Longevity, and Preventive Medicine-Lessons from Blue Zones and Cilento (2025) · cites this paper as [10]
The Conclusion (page not provided) says that good social circles and interpersonal relationships improved quality of life among older adults in China, supporting the community-network aspect at a different outcome level. The paper does not establish improved longevity or address the Mediterranean diet; those parts of the attributed claim are unsupported. (LLM, conf=0.83)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredChronic stress and pollutants accelerate aging and increase the risk of noncommunicable diseases.
“Studies have shown that positive environmental exposures—such as the Mediterranean diet and strong community networks—are associated with improved longevity, whereas chronic stress and pollutants accelerate aging and increase the risk of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) [10,11,12,13].”
From The Power of Environment: A Comprehensive Review of the Exposome's Role in Healthy Aging, Longevity, and Preventive Medicine-Lessons from Blue Zones and Cilento (2025) · cites this paper as [10]
The Introduction discusses population aging in China, and the Discussion section on self-rated health links interpersonal relationships with older adults’ health. Neither addresses whether chronic stress or pollutants accelerate aging or increase NCD risk; searches for those exposures and outcomes found no supporting passage in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.75)
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- Authors
- Shen, T., Li, D., Hu, Z., Li, J., & Wei, X.
- Affiliations
- Dongbei University of Finance and Economics (CN)
- Henan University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Henan University of Economic and Law (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Li, Dongju
- ORCID
- Venue
- Frontiers in Public Health
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2022-09-07
- Volume
- 10
- Pages
- 914707-914707
- ISSN
- 2296-2565 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9490036
- OpenAlex
- W4297258800
- Cited by
- 65
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 21 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 9.27
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Frontiers in Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Greater South Information System
- Funders
- Henan University
- Trường Đại học Kinh tế - Luật, Đại học Quốc gia Thành phố Hồ Chí Minh
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Aging, Elder Care, and Social Issues
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Health and Well-being Studies
- Keywords
- social support, quality of life, older adults, formal social support, informal support, life satisfaction, self-rated health, mental states, gender differences, urban-rural differences, activities of daily living, income, China Family Panel Studies
- MeSH terms
- Activities of Daily Living, Aged, China, Female, Humans, Male, Quality of Life, Rural Population, Social Support
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