Relationship between Social Support and Subjective Well-Being Among Chinese Older Adults

Using data from two waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) (N ≈ 5,500), I examined the relationship between types and sources of social support and subjective well-being (i.e., depressive symptoms and life satisfaction) among the Chinese older adults aged 60 and above. I also paid attention to the moderating role of three contextual factors (i.e., living arrangement concordance, education, occupation) in these relationships. OLS and logistic regression analyses results indicate that formal financial support and social support from children are important in ensuring the subjective well-being among the Chinese older adults. In addition, older adults with lower education, with agricultural work or no work experience, or with living arrangement discordance had better subjective well-being from having children’s instrumental support than their corresponding counterparts. Implications for the well-being of the Chinese elderly population are discussed.