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Abstract

The health and happiness of older adults affect social stability and are issues that governments around the world must address. The purpose of this study is to identify the mutual impact of self-rated health, intergenerational relationship, and subjective well-being among older adults. The data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) was used, and the study constructed OLS and mediation effect models. The study found that self-rated health and intergenerational relationship had significant positive impacts on the subjective well-being, self-rated health had an indirect impact on the subjective well-being through the intergenerational relationship, and the subjective well-being also had significant positive impacts on self-rated health and intergenerational relationship. The study also found that self-rated health had positive impacts on the subjective well-being of male, agricultural, non-singled, and young older adults. Intergenerational relationship had stronger positive impacts on the subjective well-being of female, non-agricultural, singled, and aged 70 and above older adults. These results suggest that policy makers should formulate differentiated strategies, pay attention to the mental and physical health of older adults, and play the basic role of family and establish harmonious intergenerational relationship.

Keywords

self-rated health intergenerational relationship subjective well-being quality of life older adults

The study not only examined the impacts of self-rated health and intergenerational relationship on the subjective well-being, but also examined the reverse impacts of subjective well-being on self-rated health and intergenerational relationship among older adults.

The study identified the indirect impact of self-rated health on the subjective well-being through the intergenerational relationship.

The study discussed the heterogeneous impacts of self-rated health and intergenerational relationship on the subjective well-being among older adults.

Introduction

The extension of human life expectancy reflects the progress of social civilization, and active aging has become the consensus of all countries. By the end of 2024, the proportion of the population aged 60 and above in China has reached 22.0%, and the total number of older adults has reached 310 million, of which the proportion of the population aged 65 and above has reached 15.6%. At the same time, China’s total population began to experience negative growth in 2022. Thus, China’s aging will be a very serious issue in the future and it is the responsibility of the government to improve the happiness of older adults. As we all know, China is a developing country with the largest population in the world before the end of 2022, and studying the subjective well-being of older adults can provide reference for Asian and African countries.

Subjective well-being (SWB) refers to the emotional and cognitive evaluation of people’s quality of life. It is a subjective and overall concept used to evaluate the emotional response over a long period of time, including positive emotion such as happiness and pleasure, negative emotion such as pain, worry, and anger.^1-3 It has most often been assessed using measures of life satisfaction, happiness, and self-esteem.⁴ In existing research, on one hand, some scholars found that self-rated health had a positive impact on subjective well-being. People with a better perception of health would score a high value of subjective well-being compared to those with a poor perception of health.^5-8 On the other hand, some scholars found that there was a significant positive correlation between intergenerational relationship (support) and subjective well-being.^9-14 Besides, some scholars also found that subjective well-being had a positive impact on self-rated health. That is, the better the subjective well-being, the better the health condition.^15-18

In general, scholars have mostly discussed the one-way impact of health status or intergenerational relationship on subjective well-being, without considering the reverse impact of subjective well-being on health status and intergenerational relationship. Owing to the interaction of variables, there may be an interactive relationship between health status, intergenerational relationship, and subjective well-being. Discussing the interaction of 3 variables can avoid endogeneity caused by reverse causality. In addition, the health status of older adults may have an important impact on family intergenerational relations. Thus health status of older adults may have an indirect impact on subjective well-being through the intergenerational relationship. It is a pity that there are few studies on the internal mechanism of health status, intergenerational relationship, and subjective well-being, which provides further research space for the study.

The health capital theory is used to reveal the potential value of health as a capital element for the development of national economy. Unlike human capital theory, investments in health clearly increase with age, even after retirement when health has lost its importance in generating earnings.¹⁹ As an important human capital, health capital is the prerequisite for the existence and effectiveness of human capital. Similar to other wealth, health will gradually consume over time. Although the health capital will be depreciated with the growth of age, if older adults increase investment in health, they will be healthier, so as to play the role of human capital to a greater extent. Happiness is the ultimate goal pursued by human beings. Happiness and health go hand in hand. If older adults have a healthy body, happiness may be better.^20,21 In addition, with the improvement of health status, older adults have an optimistic attitude toward life, show more positive emotions, are more willing to communicate with their adult children, and have a more harmonious intergenerational relationship, which indirectly may improve their subjective well-being.

Social support refers to the material or spiritual support provided by formal or informal social networks to specific objects that can alleviate individual psychological pressure and affect individual behavior choices, thus improving the sense of belonging to social members. In general, a combination of formal and informal helpers may be the most effective in situations in which both informational support and emotional support are needed.²² According to the main body of support, social support is mainly divided into 4 categories: formal support led by government and non-governmental organizations; formal support from the community; informal support of social networks; and the professional and technical social support dominated by the government and supported by multiple social entities. In the social support system for older adults, considering the function of the system and the support level of each branch system, it is mainly divided into formal social support (government, enterprises, communities, social organizations, etc.) and informal social support (family members, relatives, volunteers, etc.). As an informal social support for older adults, intergenerational relation will have a positive impact on the subjective well-being of older adults, whether it is material or spiritual.^23,24

According to the law of life cycle, the physical and psychological functions of older adults decline and their health condition worsens. Does it have a negative impact on subjective well-being? In addition, intergenerational relations are changing in modern society. Is a good intergenerational relationship conducive to improving subjective well-being? In existing studies, scholars have only examined the impact of self-rated health on subjective well-being, or only examined the impact of intergenerational relationship on subjective well-being. To the best of our knowledge, there is no study that examines the interrelationships between self-rated health, intergenerational relationship, and subjective well-being at the same time. Thus, the study focuses on the impact of self-rated health and intergenerational relationship on the subjective well-being of older adults, and analyzes the internal mechanism of self-rated health, intergenerational relationship, and subjective well-being of older adults, with a view to providing basis and reference for actively coping with aging.

Methods

This study is a quantitative analysis based on secondary data. It used multiple linear regression models and mediation effects models to examine the relationship between self-rated health, intergenerational relationships, and subjective well-being among older adults.

Data Collection

The study utilizes the open-access China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) data in 2018 collected by the Institute of Social Science Survey at Peking University (Beijing, China). The CFPS aims to reflect the changes in China’s society, economy, population, education, and health by collecting data at the individual, family and community levels. The survey results have high reliability and validity, providing a rich data base for academic research and public policy analysis in multiple fields. The object of study is older adults aged 60 and above. According to the exclusion criteria (deleting samples under 60 years old, missing samples, extreme values, and invalid samples), this study obtained 2379 male samples and 1867 female samples, and the total number of samples is 4246.

Model Application

The dependent variable is subjective well-being (SWB), and the 2 independent variables are self-rated health (SRH) and intergenerational relationship (IR). We structure the following linear estimation model:

S W B = α + β . S R H + γ . I R + m . Ζ + η

(1)

In the relation (1), SWB refers to the subjective well-being, SRH refers to the self-rated health, IR refers to the intergenerational relationship, and Z refers to the control variables (m are the estimated coefficients). And β and γ are the estimated coefficients of SRH and IR respectively. The VIF test shows that the VIF values of all variables are between 1 and 2.2 (Mean VIF is 1.38), and there is no multicollinearity issue.

The research content of the paper also includes the reverse impacts of subjective well-being on self-rated health and intergenerational relationship, and we construct 2 linear estimation models:

S R H = α + β . S W B + m . Ζ + η

(2)

I R = α + β . S W B + m . Ζ + η

(3)

Relation (2) and relation (3) have the same meaning as relation (1).

When investigating the internal mechanism of self-rated health, intergenerational relationship and subjective well-being, we construct the following mediation effect model (Figure 1):

S W B = c . S R H + m . Ζ + e_{1}

(4)

I R = a . S R H + m . Ζ + e_{2}

(5)

S W B = c^{'} . S R H + b . I R + m . Ζ + e_{3}

(6)

Figure 1.

The interaction between SRH, IR, and SWB.

The coefficient c in relation (4) is the total effect of SRH on SWB. The coefficient a in relation (5) is the direct effect of SRH on IR. The coefficient b in relation (6) is the direct effect of IR on SWB after controlling the influence of SRH. The coefficient c′ in relation (6) is the direct effect of SRH on SWB after controlling the influence of IR. We use PROCESS macro to calculate equations (4)-(6), and if all coefficients are significant, it indicates the presence of partial mediation effects. If coefficient c′ is not significant and other coefficients are significant, it indicates the existence of a complete mediation effect.

Variables

Dependent Variable

Based on existing research experience,²⁵ the cognitive or evaluative dimension of SWB is measured by the question of the CFPS “How happy are you (score)?”, 0 points represent the lowest, 10 points represent the highest, and the higher the score, the happier you are.

Independent Variable

(1) Self-rated health (SRH). SRH is a self-evaluation of the health status of older adults. As an effective indicator to measure the health status of older adults, SRH has been widely adopted by scholars all over the world. (2) Intergenerational relation (IR). In general, the intergenerational relationship includes intergenerational economic support, intergenerational care, relationship with adult children, intergenerational inheritance, etc.²⁶ Since the study mainly examines whether SRH has an indirect impact on SWB through relationship with adult children, thus relationship with adult children is regarded as the substitute variable of intergenerational relationship. In addition, the parent-child relationship is an important relationship, which is one of the longest relationships and the most formative relationship in human life.²⁷ We take “How is the relationship with the first child?” as an alternative variable of intergenerational relationship. According to the level of closeness, intergenerational relationship is divided into 5 categories: 1 = “not close”; 2 = “not very close”; 3 = “general (neutral)”, 4 = “close”; and 5 = “very close.”

Control Variables

(1) Gender. Because of the differences in the physical structure and social capital of men and women, their feelings of happiness may be different. (2) Age. Unlike the young, older adults have a better mentality, and they may have a high level of happiness. (3) Hukou. Older adults with different registered residence have different health conditions and social security, and their subjective well-being may be different. (4) Marriage. Older adults with spouses have both spiritual and life dependence, and their subjective well-being may be higher. (5) Height. The taller older adults are, the easier it is to get praise from others, and their subjective well-being may be higher. (6) Appearance. Beauty has a happiness effect,²⁸ which may be also applicable to older adults. (7) Intelligence. The level of intelligence affects the social status of young people, and to some extent determines whether they can have a decent old life. Older adults with higher intelligence may have higher subjective well-being. (8) Income. On the one hand, the higher the income, the more material enjoyment and the higher the subjective well-being.^29,30 On the other hand, there is the Easterlin paradox, that is, when income reaches a certain threshold, it no longer positively affects subjective well-being.³¹ (9) Interpersonal relationship. Older adults with better popularity have a higher degree of social participation are more likely to obtain social support, and enhance their sense of belonging and identity. Therefore, their subjective well-being may be better. Table 1 shows the characteristics and definitions of variables.

Table 1.

Participants’ Characteristics.

Variables	Definition	Obs	Mean	Std. Dev.	Min	Max
SWB (subjective well-being)	From 1 to 10 (score), the larger the value, the happier it is.	4246	2.002	0.326	0.693	2.303
SRH (self-rated health)	From 1 to 7 (score), the larger the value, the healthier it is.	4246	1.564	0.349	0	1.946
IR (intergenerational relationship)	From 1 to 5 (score), the larger the value, the better the intergenerational relationship.	4246	1.426	0.212	0	1.609
Gender	1 if female, 0 if male	4246	0.440	0.496	0	1
Age	≥60 (year)	4246	4.198	0.076	4.094	4.466
Hukou	1 if agriculture, 0 if urban	4246	0.840	0.367	0	1
Marriage	1 if having a spouse, 0 if not	4246	0.878	0.328	0	1
Height	From 100 to 190 (cm)	4246	5.082	0.060	4.605	5.247
Appearance	From 1 to 7 (score), the larger the value, the better the appearance.	4246	1.566	0.304	0	1.946
Intelligence	From 1 to 7 (score), the larger the value, the better the intelligence.	4246	1.432	0.415	0	1.946
Income	Total income in 1 year	4246	7.314	1.028	6.908	12.837
Interpersonal relationship	From 1 to 10 (score), the larger the value, the better the interpersonal relationship.	4246	1.949	0.328	0	2.303

Data source: https://www.isss.pku.edu.cn/cfps/sjzx/gksj/index.htm; Gender, household registration (Hukou), and marriage are original values, while other variables are logarithmic. The results of the table were calculated by STATA 17.

Statistical Analysis

First, this study describes the basic characteristics of the variables. Second, multiple linear regression models and mediation effect models were used to analyze the interaction of self-rated health, intergenerational relationships, and subjective well-being. The statistical analysis results were calculated by STATA and PROCESS.

Results

Model 1 in Table 2 shows that there is a significant positive correlation between self-rated health and subjective well-being, indicating that older adults with better health may have higher subjective well-being. One possible explanation is that physically healthy older adults are optimistic and have a high happiness index; On the contrary, if the health of older adults is poor or even loses their abilities, their enthusiasm for life will weaken, they will show more negative emotions, and it will be difficult for them to have a sense of happiness.³²

Table 2.

The Mutual Influence of SWB, SRH, and IR.

	(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)	(5)
Variables	SWB (95% CI)	SWB (95% CI)	SWB (95% CI)	SRH (95% CI)	IR (95% CI)
SWB				0.044** (0.010, 0.078)	0.132*** (0.104, 0.159)
SRH	0.105*** (0.073, 0.138)	0.089*** (0.057, 0.121)	0.050** (0.010, 0.090)		0.023 (−0.005, 0.051)
IR		0.340*** (0.284, 0.396)	0.241*** (0.191, 0.292)	0.037 (−0.008, 0.082)
Gender			0.008 (−0.014, 0.031)	−0.048*** (−0.068, −0.028)	0.024*** (0.009, 0.040)
Age			0.253***	−0.283***	−0.044
			(0.129, 0.377)	(−0.402, −0.163)	(−0.133, 0.044)
Hukou			−0.029** (−0.051, −0.007)	0.021* (−0.001, 0.042)	−0.001 (−0.019, 0.017)
Marriage			0.068*** (0.037, 0.099)	0.007 (−0.019, 0.032)	0.000 (−0.020, 0.021)
Height			−17.606*** (−26.903, −8.309)	3.983 (−9.364, 17.330)	8.329 (−2.230, 18.887)
Height square			1.760*** (0.836, 2.683)	−0.407 (−1.726, 0.912)	−0.799 (−1.842, 0.244)
Appearance			−0.003 (−0.048, 0.043)	0.656*** (0.606, 0.707)	0.003 (−0.029, 0.036)
Intelligence			0.008 (−0.020, 0.037)	0.096*** (0.065, 0.127)	0.007 (−0.012, 0.027)
Income			0.001 (−0.007, 0.009)	0.013*** (0.006, 0.019)	−0.002 (−0.008, 0.004)
Interpersonal relationship			0.454*** (0.415, 0.493)	0.008 (−0.021, 0.038)	0.027** (0.003, 0.050)
Constant	1.837*** (1.783, 1.891)	1.377*** (1.282, 1.473)	43.598*** (20.215, 66.981)	−8.402 (−42.211, 25.407)	−20.441 (−47.159, 6.277)
Observations	4246	4246	4246	4246	4246
R-squared	.013	.061	.275	.449	.063

Note. The results of this table are calculated by STATA 17.

***

, **, * represent significance level of 1%, 5%, and 10% respectively.

Model 2 indicates that there is still a significant positive correlation between self-rated health and subjective well-being. There is a significant positive relationship between intergenerational relationships and subjective well-being, and the degree of association between the 2 is higher than that of self-rated health. Unlike young people, because of the deterioration of physiological and psychological functions, older adults are inconvenient to live, and adult children become an important weight for their happiness. If older adults can get emotional support and life care from their adult children, especially if they can live with their adult children, their attitude toward life will be more optimistic and their happiness index will be higher.^33,34 On the contrary, if they lack communication with their adult children, live alone, they are prone to be pessimistic, and the happiness index is low. Therefore, good intergenerational relationship plays an important role in maintaining family harmony and improving the subjective well-being.

Model 3 shows that after adding all control variables, there is still a significant positive correlation between self-rated health, intergenerational relationships, and subjective well-being. In terms of control variables, there is no significant correlation between variables such as gender, appearance, intelligence, and income and subjective well-being. There is a significant positive correlation between variables such as age, marriage, and interpersonal relationships and subjective well-being. The subjective well-being of older adults with agricultural hukou is lower than that of older adults with non-agricultural hukou, which may be caused by the poor health condition and lack of social support of the former. Older adults with spouse have higher subjective well-being, while older adults without spouse live alone, have no spouse to rely on and care for, are prone to mental depression, and have lower subjective well-being.³⁵ The primary term of height is significantly negative, and the height square is significantly positive, indicating that there is a “U” relationship between height and subjective well-being. The reasons for the higher subjective well-being of older adults with short stature are different from that of older adults with tall stature. The former is mainly female older adults and the latter is mostly male older adults. Tall male older adults are easy to get social recognition and praise from others, and have a higher subjective well-being.

Model 4 examined the impact of subjective well-being on self-rated health, and the results showed that subjective well-being has a positive impact on self-rated health. Older adults who feel happy are mentally healthy, and health includes physical health and mental health. Therefore, the higher the subjective well-being, the better the health of older adults, and the relationship between the 2 is bidirectional. Model 5 examined the impact of subjective well-being on intergenerational relationship, and subjective well-being has a positive impact on intergenerational relationship, and the impact intensity was higher than that of self-rated health. Older adults who feel happiness have strong motivation for interpersonal communication, closer relationship with their adult children, and their intergenerational relationships are more harmonious; on the contrary, if older adults are depressed, they will reduce their contact with their adult children, and their intergenerational relationships may become bad. Thus subjective well-being and intergenerational relationship belong to the relationship of mutual influence.

Table 3 shows the results of the mediation effect. The estimated results show that there is a partial mediation effect. Among them, the contribution rate of mediation effect is 13.05% (ab/c). Health status is in direct proportion to self-care ability. The healthier older adults are, the stronger their self-care ability is, and the less they need adult children’s care, which reduces the phenomenon: “no filial son in front of bed after a long illness (a Chinese proverb).” At the same time, it also reduces the burden of adult children’s pension, improves the labor participation rate of adult children, and makes the intergenerational relationship more harmonious, which improves the subjective well-being.

Table 3.

The Indirect Impact of SRH on SWB through IR.

Independent variable	Dependent variable	Control variable	Coefficient	95% CI
SRH (a)	IR	Yes	0.031**	(0.007, 0.055)
IR(b)	SWB	Yes	0.240***	(0.200, 0.280)
SRH(c)	SWB	Yes	0.057***	(0.024, 0.090)
SRH(c′)	SWB	Yes	0.050***	(0.017, 0.082)

Note. The results of this table are calculated by PROCESS.

***

, ** Represent significance level of 1% and 5% respectively.

Table 4 presents the results of the heterogeneity analysis. There is a significant positive correlation between self-rated health and subjective well-being among male, agriculture, non-singled, and young older adults, while there is no significant correlation between self-rated health and subjective well-being among female, non-agricultural, singled, and aged 70 and above older adults. Intergenerational relationship had stronger positive impacts on the subjective well-being of female, non-agricultural, singled, and aged 70 and above older adults.

Table 4.

Heterogeneity Analysis Results.

Variables	Male	Female	Agriculture	Non-agriculture	With spouse	Without spouse	60-69	≥70
SRH	0.051* (−0.001, 0.103)	0.047 (−0.015, 0.109)	0.047** (0.003, 0.092)	0.063 (−0.021, 0.146)	0.051** (0.009, 0.094)	0.032 (−0.081, 0.145)	0.065** (0.013, 0.117)	0.012 (−0.048, 0.071)
IR	0.227*** (0.162, 0.293)	0.258*** (0.177, 0.338)	0.236*** (0.180, 0.293)	0.268*** (0.150, 0.387)	0.230*** (0.177, 0.283)	0.308*** (0.145, 0.472)	0.237*** (−0.023, 0.029)	0.245*** (0.147, 0.344)
Controls	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Observations	2379	1867	3566	680	3727	519	3118	1128
R-squared	.280	.271	.279	.249	.281	.238	.275	.269

Note. The 95% confidence interval in parentheses. The results of the table were calculated by STATA 17.

***

, **, *Represent significance level of 1%, 5%, and 10% respectively.

Discussion

The marginal contributions to the literature of this paper include several aspects. First of all, the paper not only examined the impacts of self-rated health and intergenerational relationship on the subjective well-being, but also examined the reverse impacts of subjective well-being on self-rated health and intergenerational relationship, providing a new thinking perspective for subsequent relevant research. Second, the paper discussed the indirect impact of self-rated health on the subjective well-being through the intergenerational relationship, and clarified the internal mechanism of self-rated health, intergenerational relationship, and the subjective well-being. The paper could provide an addition to the previous recent studies which deal with the association among self-rated health, intergenerational relationship, and subjective well-being of older adults. Third, from the perspective of gender, marriage and age, the paper discussed the heterogeneous impacts of self-rated health and intergenerational relationship on the subjective well-being, and provided theoretical support for formulating differentiated happiness improvement strategies.

According to the research conclusion of the study and China’s social situation, this paper puts forward possible policy recommendations: First, the factors that affect the subjective well-being are both diverse and complex, and the internal correlation between the factors should be respected. In view of the individual heterogeneity of older adults, we should formulate a differentiated happiness improvement plan, provide personalized humanistic care, and implement targeted and precise policies to avoid the uselessness and internalization of social welfare. For older adults, especially the disabled and widowed, we should formulate a more complete assistance plan, and adopt centralized support, purchase social services and other ways to let older adults spend their old age in peace. Besides, we should strengthen policy coordination among government departments, explore the internal links between policies, and improve the efficiency of policy implementation.

Second, we should monitor the psychological status of older adults regularly, strengthen the psychological guidance of older adults, and relieve the anxiety of older adults. We should strengthen the publicity of the policy for older adults, expand the coverage of free physical examination for older adults, find patients as early as possible, establish health records, and manage chronic diseases. We should increase sport facilities and encourage older adults to exercise moderately. Older adults should cultivate the healthy lifestyle, stop smoking, limit alcohol, and enhance the immunity of the body. We should set up a volunteer team, cooperate with community workers, carry out activities to care for older adults regularly, help older adults build confidence in life, and reduce the interference of negative emotions. To encourage older adults to participate in universities for the seniors, increase the frequency of interaction between older adults, establish good social relations, and cultivate a positive attitude. To encourage older adults in good health to participate in volunteer activities, which can not only strengthen their physique, but also enhance their sense of self-identity, positive emotions, and subjective well-being.

Third, give full play to the role of the family, establish harmonious intergenerational relations, and let older adults feel the care and warmth of the family. There is a Chinese proverb: “filial piety is the first.” thus we should promote the Chinese culture of filial piety. Adult children should always go home, give emotional and economic support to older adults, relieve worry of older adults, close the distance with older adults, and establish a harmonious intergenerational relationship. When adult children’s economic conditions permit, consider arranging older adults to live nearby to enhance intergenerational feelings. We will increase the Internet use rate of older adults, popularize smart phones gradually, and bridge the intergenerational gap in information technology. Older adults need to make full use of modern media technology to maintain communication with their adult children through voice, video and other means. When encountering difficulties in life, older adults should also actively seek the help of their adult children, and enhance their emotional interaction with their adult children effectively.

Limitations

However, it should be noted that there are many factors that affect the subjective well-being of older adults. The study focuses on the impact of self-rated health and intergenerational relationship on the subjective well-being. It is found that the impact of intergenerational relationship on subjective well-being is higher than that of self-rated health, and the impact of other factors on subjective well-being is also different. In the later stage, we can consider decomposing the influencing factors to clarify the contribution rate of each factor to subjective well-being, hoping to provide reference for accurately improving subjective well-being. Intergenerational relation should also include adult children’s economic support for older adults, adult children’s family care for older adults, and the frequency of contact with adult children. Besides, we need to further consider the impact of education, employment (retirement), and wealth factors on the subjective well-being of older adults.

Conclusion

Self-rated health and intergenerational relationship have significant positive impacts on the subjective well-being, and the impact of intergenerational relationship on the subjective well-being is stronger than that of self-rated health. Self-rated health has an indirect impact on the subjective well-being through the intergenerational relationship. Subjective well-being also has significant positive impacts on self-rated health and intergenerational relationship respectively. Besides, self-rated health has positive impacts on the subjective well-being of male, agricultural, non-singled, and young older adults. Intergenerational relationship has stronger positive impacts on the subjective well-being of female, non-agricultural, singled, and aged 70 and above older adults.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the suggestions of the Editor-in-Chief, production editor, and all anonymous referees. The authors also thank all the participants for their helpful comments. Of course, the responsibility for any errors rests solely with the authors.

ORCID iD

Zheng Shi

Ethical Considerations

Our research does not involve human experimentation, does not raise ethical issues, and does not require the consent of an ethics committee. The data for the paper are sourced from public websites.

Author Contributions

J. H. and Z. S. write the initial draft and conduct data analysis. Z. S. is responsible for checking and revising the paper. The final manuscript is contributed by all authors.

Funding

The authors disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This article is supported by 21st Century Marxism Research Center of Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences (25MYYB06) & Zhejiang Provincial Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project (25NDJC042YBMS). These two funds are equally important and not in any particular order, they are both the first funds.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Data Availability Statement

The data for this article is available online.

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Exploring the Interaction Between Self-rated Health,Intergenerational Relationship,and Subjective Well-being in Older Adults: An Empirical Analysis