The impact of informal social support on the health poverty vulnerability of the elderly in rural China: based on 2018 CHARLS data

OBJECTIVE: From the perspective of informal social support, this paper analysed the impact of factors such as “Relationship with spouse”, “Relationship with Children”, “Financial support from children”, “Sibling support”, “Support from other friends and relatives” and “Borrowing costs” on the health poverty vulnerability of elderly people in rural China. METHODS: Based on the data of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) in 2018, the vulnerability of the rural elderly to health poverty was measured from two dimensions of health status and influencing factors of health status by the three-stage feasible generalized least square method. A quantile regression model was used to analyse the impact of six variables in the informal social support network on health poverty vulnerability: “Relationship with spouse”, “Relationship with children”, “Financial support from children”, " Sibling support”, " Support from other friends and relatives”, and “Borrowing costs”. RESULTS: When the poverty line standards were 2995 CNY/year and 4589 CNY/year, the health poverty vulnerability of the elderly population in rural China was 0.397 and 0.598 in 2018. In the analysis of informal social support, factors such as the relationship with spouse, relationship with children, borrowing costs, support from other friends and relatives, and sibling support had different impacts on the health poverty vulnerability of the rural elderly, who were classified into three groups according to their different vulnerabilities. CONCLUSION: According to the analysis of the 2018 CHARLS database, the health poverty vulnerability of the elderly population was related to the informal social support network, and it is necessary to pay attention to the role of informal channels such as children, spouses, relatives and friends in daily care and financial support for rural elderly individuals. Meanwhile, the government and other formal organizations should also give full play to their supporting role for elderly individuals, who are highly vulnerable to health poverty, and their families.