ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Aging and Public Health
This article is part of the Research TopicPublic Health Outcomes: The Role of Social Security Systems in Improving Residents' Health Welfare, Volume IIView all 26 articles
Life Satisfaction among Older Adults in China: Who Gains More from Community-based Health Services?
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
- 2Nanjing University, Nanjing, China
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Objectives: This study investigates the effects of community-based health services on life satisfaction among older adults in China, examining three specific service types: health check-ups, health records, and health education programs. Methods: A cross-sectional quantitative study utilizing data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) conducted in 2020. Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression models were employed for the benchmark analysis, with ordered logit and ordered probit models used for robustness verification. Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method with multiple algorithms was adopted to address potential selection bias and strengthen the basis for causal inference. Variable substitution and sample replacement methods were implemented for additional robustness tests. Heterogeneity analyses were conducted to examine differential effects across demographic subgroups. Results: The analysis included 11,292 older adults aged 60 and above. Health check-up services showed the highest utilization rate (29.93%), followed by health records (10.85%) and health education (7.03%). All three community-based health services showed significant positive associations with life satisfaction, with relationships that remained statistically significant after rigorous statistical adjustment for observable confounders. The positive effects remained consistent across different model specifications and robustness checks. Heterogeneity analyses revealed that female, rural, and chronically ill older adults experienced greater benefits from these services compared to their counterparts. Conclusion: Community-based health services show strong positive associations with enhanced life satisfaction among older adults in China, with differential impacts across population subgroups. These findings provide evidence for expanding community-based health service coverage and developing targeted interventions for vulnerable elderly populations, particularly focusing on rural areas and individuals with chronic conditions to maximize program effectiveness.
Keywords: life satisfaction, community-based health services, older adults, Health Policy, China
Received: 14 Sep 2025; Accepted: 17 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Jia, Zhang and Wang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ling Zhang, ling_zhang@smail.nju.edu.cn
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