Volume 23 - Article 5 | Pages 105-116

The association between resilience and survival among Chinese elderly


Date received:	09 Feb 2010
Date published:	16 Jul 2010
Word count:	1816
Keywords:	China, healthy life expectancy, mortality risk, residence, survival
DOI:	10.4054/DemRes.2010.23.5

Abstract

Based on the unique longitudinal data of the elderly aged 65+ with a sufficiently large sub-sample of the oldest-old aged 85+ from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey, we construct a resilience scale with 7 indicators for the Chinese elderly, based on the framework of the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale. Cox proportional hazards regression model estimates show that, after controlling for socio-demographic characteristics and initial health status, the total resilience score and most factors of the resilience scale are significantly associated with reduced mortality risk among the young-old and oldest-old. Although the causal mechanisms remain to be investigated, effective measures to promote resilience are likely to have a positive effect on longevity of the elderly in China.

Author's Affiliation

Ke Shen - Institute of Population Research, School of Social Development and Public Policy, Fudan University, China [Email]
Yi Zeng - Duke University, United States of America [Email]