The Casual Inference Between Living Arrangements and Health Status of the Elderly in China from 2002 to 2011

This study aims to explore the association between living arrangements and the health status of the elderly in China using data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) from 2002 to 2011. The results indicate that family’s social and economic resources are more important than their needs on determining their living arrangements. For those elderlies with better health conditions, higher number of children, and attaining higher occupational status before retirement, they are more likely to live with household members rather than living with others or alone. Interestingly, although the causal relationship between them is not prominent for those who live in urban settings and among female elderlies in rural areas, the causal inference was evident among older men in rural areas. For those rural male elderlies, those who lived with household members previously could significantly increase their health status over a three-year period.