Healthy Longevity in China: Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Psychological Dimensions (The Springer Series on Demographic Methods and Population Analysis Book 20)

China is aging at an extraordinary speed and has the largest quantity of elderly persons in the world. Scholars utilize this unprecedented living experience of human being and the unique Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) datasets with the aim to answer in this volume the following questions critical to the aging population world wide. Is the period of disability compressing or expanding with increasing life expectancy and what factors are associated with these trends in the recent decades? Is it possible to realize morbidity compression with a prolongation of the life span in the future? The first section of the book presents the CLHLS project’s study design, sample distribution, contents of data collected, and assessments of age reporting and data quality. The remaining chapters are grouped into sections dealing with the demographic, social, economic, familial and psychological dimensions of healthy longevity. This volume contributes to the development of scientific knowledge related to the "slowing down" of the pace of progression of morbidity with mortality declines at older ages. Research findings reported in this book are instrumental in the ultimate realization of the long-term dream of healthy longevity, that is, not only living longer, but living a healthier life. "The research in this book captures the highlight of a decade of effort on CLHLS study and represents an important milestone in our emerging understanding of how individuals can endeavor to live a long, healthy life and how societies can help them do so. We still have only a partial understanding of the determinants of healthy longevity, but we have a considerably better understanding than we had a decade ago. Moreover, we can look forward to prospects for a deeper understanding based in significant measure on the further analysis of data from the ongoing CLHLS endeavor." -- James W. Vaupel, Director of Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and Professor of Duke University "The CLHLS casts valuable light on important features of the aging process in the world's largest country. This volume will serve as a basic reference work both for Chinese studies and for comparative analyses." -- Samuel Preston, Frederick Warren Professor of Demography, University of Pennsylvania "The CLHLS is a fantastic enterprise which started 10 years ago and which will leave a benchmark of the social, economic, and familial situation of the Chinese elderly at the time when they comprised 7% of the whole population and when China entered a new period of accelerated aging. From now on population aging in China and its social consequences, as well as individual lengthening of life and its health consequences will be carefully assessed in reference to the CLHLS. We dream to have such studies for the other large countries on the point of also experiencing similar demographic changes" -- Jean-Marie Robine, Research Director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research and Professor of University of Montpellier Front Matter....Pages I-XV Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Introduction: Aging and Aged Dependency in China....Pages 1-18 Front Matter....Pages 19-22 Introduction to the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS)....Pages 23-38 General Data Quality Assessment of the CLHLS....Pages 39-60 Reliability of Age Reporting Among the Chinese Oldest-Old in the CLHLS Datasets....Pages 61-78 Age Reporting in the CLHLS: A Re-assessment....Pages 79-98 Assessment of Reliability of Mortality and Morbidity in the 1998–2002 CLHLS Waves....Pages 99-116 Front Matter....Pages 117-120 The Effects of Sociodemographic Factors on the Hazard of Dying Among Chinese Oldest Old....Pages 121-132 When I’m 104: The Determinants of Healthy Longevity Among the Oldest-Old in China....Pages 133-148 Association of Education with the Longevity of the Chinese Elderly....Pages 149-156 Analysis of Health and Longevity in the Oldest-Old Population—A Health Capital Approach....Pages 157-176 The More Engagement, the Better? A Study of Mortality of the Oldest Old in China....Pages 177-192 Front Matter....Pages 193-196 Living Arrangements and Psychological Disposition of the Oldest Old Population in China....Pages 197-213 Health and Living Arrangement Transitions among China’s Oldest-old....Pages 215-234 Intergenerational Support and Self-rated Health of the Elderly in Rural China: An Investigation in Chaohu, Anhui Province....Pages 235-249 The Effects of Adult Children’s Caregiving onthe Health Status of Their Elderly Parents: Protection or Selection?....Pages 251-268 The Challenge to Healthy Longevity: Inequality in Health Care and Mortality in China....Pages 269-287 Front Matter....Pages 289-292 Successful Ageing of the Oldest- Old in China....Pages 293-303 Impairments and Disability in the Chinese and American Oldest-Old Population....Pages 305-314 Tooth Loss Among the Elderly in China....Pages 315-327 Psychological Resources for Well-Being Among Octogenarians, Nonagenarians, and Centenarians: Differential Effects of Age and Selective Mortality....Pages 329-346 Front Matter....Pages 289-292 An Exploration of the Subjective Well-Being of the Chinese Oldest-Old....Pages 347-356 Social Support and Self-Reported Quality of Life China’s Oldest Old....Pages 357-376 Gender Differences in the Effects of Self-rated Health Status on Mortality Among the Oldest Old in China....Pages 377-396 Epilogue: Future Agenda....Pages 397-418 Back Matter....Pages 419-428 ....Pages 429-435 Key research in the world’s largest aging population – in China – has fed into this important new work, which aims to answer questions critical to older people worldwide. These include: is the period of disability compressing or expanding with increasing life expectancy and what factors are associated with these trends in the recent decades? And is it possible to realize morbidity compression with a prolongation of the life span in the future? Essential reading for gerontologists.