Modeling the Effects of Macro-Measures on Elder Health in China: A “Fresh Sample” Approach

Abstract

One part of the analysis presented in this paper examines how elder health is affected by macro-measures of regional inequality and socio-environmental conditions. Unique data from Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) provide demographic, socio-economic and health information about China elders, including oldest-old (ages 80–105). To examine the effects of macro-level variables on elder self-rated health, we use data from the 1998 wave (baseline), and add macro-level indicators of environmental conditions, SES, and demographic characteristics not in the CLHLS. However, censoring due to deaths and dropouts is very high in longitudinal datasets of the elderly including the CLHLS, and samples can vary by data wave. Therefore, a second part of our analysis includes only new respondents added in the 2000 wave -- a “fresh sample” for a validation test of our model.