饥荒、性格形成与心理健康

Famine,Personality Development and Mental Health

本文基于1959-1961年的饥荒,利用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)2010年和2014年的数据研究了饥荒经历的长期记忆。研究发现,饥荒经历对个人性格的影响导致个人用于休闲娱乐和社会交往的时间较少,主要体现在用于视听娱乐、健身以及娱乐消遣等享乐型活动的时间,进而影响心理健康。在考虑了个体的休闲和社交活动与心理健康之间的内生性问题以及进行其他稳健性检验之后,该影响机制仍然成立。本研究为人生早期负面经历的长期影响机制研究提供了新的证据,也充实了关于大饥荒影响的研究。

Focusing on the 1959-1961 famine in China,this study uses panel data from CFPS(2010)and CFPS(2014)to explore mechanism behind the long-term impact of famine on individual mental health.The results show that the negative long-lasting impact occurs through the following channel:the impact of famine experience on personal character leads to less time spent on leisure and social interactions,especially on leisure activities including audio-visual entertainment and fitness,which are negative to mental health.The negative associations still exist after controlling for the endogeneity between individual leisure and social activities and mental health and after other robustness tests.This study provides new evidences for the study of the long-term impact mechanism of negative experiences in early life and enriches literature on the influences of the Great Famine.