A study assessing the impact of income relative deprivation and cooperative membership on rural residents' health: A pathway towards improving the health status of rural residents

Rural residents' health status is related to their happiness, socioeconomic status, personal development, and the ideals of living, but individual income relative deprivation has a negative impact on their health. Hence, this study aimed to examine that how to alleviate the negative impact of income relative deprivation on rural residents' health. Based on a literature review, it is the first study to propose that cooperative membership could help alleviate the adverse effects of income relative deprivation on rural residents' health. It survey data from 466 farm households in Shandong Province in China and employs an endogenous switching probit model to solve the endogenous problems. The results show that relative deprivation positively affects farmers' membership in a cooperative but negatively impacts their health. More importantly, the results indicate that membership in a cooperative improves farmers' health and alleviates the adverse effects of relative deprivation. These findings not only expand the empirical research on the positive impact of relative deprivation but also provide a new pathway towards improving the negative impact of income relative deprivation on rural residents' health. That is, the government should guide smallholder farmers to join professional cooperatives and encourage the development of ‘multi-functional’ cooperatives to play a greater role in improving rural residents' health.