AUTHOR=Dong Yi , Cheng Lanyan , Cao Hailin 

TITLE=Impact of informal social support on the mental health of older adults

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Public Health

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2024.1446246

DOI=10.3389/fpubh.2024.1446246

ISSN=2296-2565

ABSTRACT=Objective: The role of informal social support in fostering active aging within the context of the "silver wave" is significant. This study investigated how such support influenced the mental health of older adults, with the goal of affirming its indispensable contribution to enhancing their psychological well-being.Methods: Employing Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to construct the informal social support variable, this study rigorously analyzed the effects and underlying mechanisms of informal social support on mental health in older adults, utilizing data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS).Results: Informal social support exerted a substantial positive influence on the mental health of older adults, particularly among younger, non-agricultural elderly populations who preferred cohabitation with their children. This form of support significantly enhanced mental well-being by elevating life satisfaction, improving access to medical services, and fostering active social engagement.This study elucidates the role of informal social support in bolstering the mental health of older adults. Future efforts should focus on fostering a supportive environment that enhances eldercare experiences, reforming the healthcare system to better meet the needs of the aging population, and promoting avenues for social engagement, thereby achieving a balanced integration of their emotional and physical care. 批注 [PD1]: Dear Editors and Reviewers, Thanks for your constructive comments. The improvement mainly focuses on providing a more detailed discussion in Methodology part, improving the table in the Result part, adding the references and checking the grammar. In addition, we invited a friend of us who is a native English speaker from the USA to help polish our article. And we polished the