IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i20p10642-d653715.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Vulnerable Older Adults’ Identification, Geographic Distribution, and Policy Implications in China

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoyi Jin

    (School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China)

  • Yanjun Liu

    (School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China)

  • Zhaoyuan Hu

    (School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China)

  • Wei Du

    (School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi’an Jiaotong University, No. 28 Xianning West Road, Xi’an 710049, China)

Abstract

With the population aging and urbanization in China, vulnerable older adults tend to show more complex characteristics, bringing great challenges to public health policies. Using China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey data 2014, this paper builds a comprehensive index system for the identification of vulnerable older adults from three dimensions, including health, economy, and social support, then divides older adults into four support levels and six small classes by using the typological method. The results show that older adults in urgent need of assistance or priority are those poor in health and economic conditions, 1.46% of them are highly vulnerable because of the lack of social support; 12.76% of them obtain a certain social support are moderately vulnerable; and 34.72% of them are slightly vulnerable with disadvantage in only one dimension. The geographic distribution of different types of vulnerable older adults varies significantly. The paper provides evidence to design more feasible and specific policies with comprehensive considerations for different types of vulnerable older adults residing in different regions.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoyi Jin & Yanjun Liu & Zhaoyuan Hu & Wei Du, 2021. "Vulnerable Older Adults’ Identification, Geographic Distribution, and Policy Implications in China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-19, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:20:p:10642-:d:653715
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10642/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/20/10642/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ye Luo & Linda J. Waite, 2014. "Loneliness and Mortality Among Older Adults in China," The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, The Gerontological Society of America, vol. 69(4), pages 633-645.
    2. Delor, François & Hubert, Michel, 2000. "Revisiting the concept of 'vulnerability'," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 50(11), pages 1557-1570, June.
    3. Khaksar, Seyed Mohammad Sadegh & Khosla, Rajiv & Chu, Mei Tai & Shahmehr, Fatemeh S., 2016. "Service Innovation Using Social Robot to Reduce Social Vulnerability among Older People in Residential Care Facilities," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 438-453.
    4. Steven Bunt & Nardi Steverink & Melissa K. Andrew & Cees P. van der Schans & Hans Hobbelen, 2017. "Cross-Cultural Adaptation of the Social Vulnerability Index for Use in the Dutch Context," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-13, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arsenyan, Jbid & Mirowska, Agata & Piepenbrink, Anke, 2023. "Close encounters with the virtual kind: Defining a human-virtual agent coexistence framework," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Hajo Zeeb & Heinz Rothgang & Ingrid Darmann-Finck, 2018. "Ageing, Health and Equity—Broad Perspectives Are Needed to Understand and Tackle Health Challenges of Ageing Societies," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-4, March.
    3. Chiang, Ai-Hsuan & Trimi, Silvana & Lo, Yu-Ju, 2022. "Emotion and service quality of anthropomorphic robots," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    4. Zheng Xie & Adrienne N Poon & Zhijun Wu & Weiyan Jian & Kit Yee Chan, 2015. "Is Occupation a Good Predictor of Self-Rated Health in China?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(5), pages 1-18, May.
    5. Federico Benjamín Galacho-Jiménez & David Carruana-Herrera & Julián Molina & José Damián Ruiz-Sinoga, 2022. "Evidence of the Relationship between Social Vulnerability and the Spread of COVID-19 in Urban Spaces," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(9), pages 1-22, April.
    6. Puxiang Ren & Jakob Emiliussen & Regina Christiansen & Søren Engelsen & Søren Harnow Klausen, 2022. "Filial Piety, Generativity and Older Adults’ Wellbeing and Loneliness in Denmark and China," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 17(5), pages 3069-3090, October.
    7. Natasja Schutter & Tjalling J. Holwerda & Hannie C. Comijs & Max L. Stek & Jaap Peen & Jack J. M. Dekker, 2022. "Loneliness, social network size and mortality in older adults: a meta-analysis," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1057-1076, December.
    8. Jiao Zhang & Lingzhong Xu & Jiajia Li & Long Sun & Gan Ding & Wenzhe Qin & Qian Wang & Jing Zhu & Zihang Yu & Su Xie, 2018. "Loneliness and Health Service Utilization among the Rural Elderly in Shandong, China: A Cross-Sectional Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-11, July.
    9. Toms, G. & Verity, F. & Orrell, A., 2019. "Social care technologies for older people: Evidence for instigating a broader and more inclusive dialogue," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    10. Rhodes, Tim & Singer, Merrill & Bourgois, Philippe & Friedman, Samuel R. & Strathdee, Steffanie A., 2005. "The social structural production of HIV risk among injecting drug users," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(5), pages 1026-1044, September.
    11. repec:thr:techub:10026:y:2021:i:1:p:514-526 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Kim, Rachel H. & Gaukler, Gary M. & Lee, Chang Won, 2016. "Improving healthcare quality: A technological and managerial innovation perspective," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 113(PB), pages 373-378.
    13. Skare, Marinko & Porada-Rochoń, Małgorzata, 2022. "Technology and social equality in the United States," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    14. Tan, Si Ying & Taeihagh, Araz & Tripathi, Abhas, 2021. "Tensions and antagonistic interactions of risks and ethics of using robotics and autonomous systems in long-term care," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    15. Yang, Fang & Gu, Danan, 2021. "Widowhood, widowhood duration, and loneliness among older adults in China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    16. Mauricio Gallardo, 2018. "Identifying Vulnerability To Poverty: A Critical Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 1074-1105, September.
    17. Hongjuan Liu & Lingzhong Xu & Hailing Yang & Yan Zhao & Xiaorong Luan, 2022. "Preferences in long-term care models and related factors among older adults: a cross-sectional study from Shandong Province, China," European Journal of Ageing, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 27-35, March.
    18. Frank, Darius-Aurel & Otterbring, Tobias, 2023. "Being seen… by human or machine? Acknowledgment effects on customer responses differ between human and robotic service workers," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    19. Nyambedha, Erick Otieno, 2008. "Ethical dilemmas of social science research on AIDS and orphanhood in Western Kenya," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(5), pages 771-779, September.
    20. Angelique Chan & Prassanna Raman & Stefan Ma & Rahul Malhotra, 2015. "Loneliness and all-cause mortality in community-dwelling elderly Singaporeans," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 32(49), pages 1361-1382.
    21. Jolanthe de Koning & Suzanne H Richards & Grace E R Wood & Afroditi Stathi, 2021. "Profiles of Loneliness and Social Isolation in Physically Active and Inactive Older Adults in Rural England," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-16, April.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:20:p:10642-:d:653715. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.