促进还是抑制:隔代照料对中老年人身心健康的影响

Facilitate or Inhibit:The Impact of Intergenerational Care on the Physical and Mental Health of the Middle-aged and Older Adults

全面“三孩”背景下,中老年人隔代照料孙子女必将成为更加普遍的社会现象。基于2018年中国健康与养老追踪调查(CHARLS)数据,使用OLS模型、两阶段最小二乘法(2SLS)及倾向得分匹配法(PSM),系统探讨了隔代照料与中老年人身心健康之间的深层次关系。研究表明:(1)隔代照料有利于提高中老年人生理健康,并降低陷入抑郁情绪的概率,在控制内生性及稳健性检验后,研究结论依然成立;(2)照料强度与心理健康呈负相关关系,伴随照料强度的增加,中老年人陷入抑郁情绪的风险逐渐提高;(3)隔代照料对女性、中年(45~60岁)及农村中老年人身心健康的影响更加显著;(4)隔代照料通过增加代际经济支持、精神慰藉及扩大社会交往提升中老年人的身心健康。基于此,应该建立社会化、市场化托育服务体系,提高延迟退休、优化生育及女职工就业保护政策之间匹配度与衔接性,并实施面向家庭的婴幼儿照料支持政策。

In the context of the nationwide“three-children policy”,the intergenerational care for grandchildren by middle-aged and older adults will become a more typical social phenomenon.Based on the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study,this paper used the OLS model,the two-stage least-squares model(2SLS)and the propensity score matching(PSM)to explore the underlying relationship between intergenerational care for grandchildren and the physical and mental health of the middle-aged and older adults.It has the following conclusions:(1)Intergenerational care promotes the physical health of the middle-aged and older adults and reduces the probability of their falling into depression,which has been evidenced by the controlling endogeneity and robustness tests.(2)There is a negative correlation between care intensity and mental health.With the increase in care intensity,the risk of the middle-aged and older adults falling into depression gradually increases.(3)The effect of providing care for grandchildren on the physical and mental health of the middle-aged and older adults is more significant for women,middle-aged adults(45~60 years old)and rural older adults.(4)Caring for grandchildren will improve their physical and mental health by increasing intergenerational economic support,spiritual comfort and social interaction.Thus,it is necessary to establish a socialized and market-oriented childcare service system,improve the compatibility and cohesion between the policies for later retirement,optimize reproduction and employment protection for female workers,and implement family-oriented infant care support policies.