家人照料会让失能老人更幸福吗?--基于“中国健康与养老追踪调查”的实证研究

Whether family care make blissful old people happier or not: Empirical evidence based on China’s health and pension tracking survey

根据"中国健康与养老追踪调查"(CHARLS)2013年和2015年全国调查数据,利用双重差分倾向得分匹配(PSMDID)法,实证检验了家人照料对我国失能老人幸福感的影响并进行了稳健性检验。研究发现:家人照料总体上降低了被照料失能老人的幸福感;这种不利影响对于社会经济地位低的失能老人更为明显。其影响机理是我国缺少对家庭照料者的社会支持,使其承担了过多的机会成本和身心压力,增加了老人的内疚感。建议完善失能老人的照料补贴制度,完善照料者的国家福利支持系统。

According to the 2013 and 2015 national survey data of the China Health and Pension Tracking Survey(CHARLS), this paper empirically tested the impact of family care on the happiness of the disabled elderly in China by using the method of double differential propensity score matching(PSMDID) method, and conducted a robust test.The study found that family care reduced the happiness of the disabled elder in general, and this adverse effect was more obvious for the disabled elder with low social and economic status. Its influence mechanism was the lack of social support for family caregivers, which makes them bear too much opportunity cost and physical and mental pressure, and increases the guilt of the elderly. It is recommended to improve the care subsidy system for the disabled elderly and the national welfare support system for caregivers.