Income and Health in Predicting Older Adults’ Social Capabilities in China: The Mediating Role of Social Engagement

Despite an established positive link among income, health, and social capabilities among older adults, the relationship mechanisms of these factors are understudied. Using the WHO Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health data and a capabilities approach, this paper provides new evidence on the effects of income (measured by total household income) and health (measured by physical and cognitive functioning) on the social capabilities of older adults (aged 55 or older) in China and the possible mediating role of social engagement in this relationship. Findings from the study show that both income and health showed consistent and positive effects on social capabilities of older adults in China, and the effects varied between rural and urban older adults. The mediation analysis results show that social engagement accounted for a substantial proportion of the effects of income and health on social capabilities, but income and health still had strong, positive direct effects of their own. In particular, social engagement was found to play important mediating roles in the associations between physical and cognitive functioning and the social capabilities of freedom of expression (9.46%) and the sense of safety (36.33%) among rural older adults. Findings from this study highlight the need for more social policies and services to enhance older adults’ social engagement, income, and health conditions