@article {Zhao973, author = {Xin Zhao and Yi Zhou and Huaqing Tan and Haoxiang Lin}, title = {Spillover effects of children{\textquoteright}s political status on elderly parents{\textquoteright} health in China}, volume = {72}, number = {11}, pages = {973--981}, year = {2018}, doi = {10.1136/jech-2018-210770}, publisher = {BMJ Publishing Group Ltd}, abstract = {Background Due to the sustained increases in life expectancy over the past half century, the elderly today will receive supports from their children for a longer period than ever before. Therefore, understanding the spillover effects of children{\textquoteright}s socioeconomic status on parents{\textquoteright} health becomes increasingly important for both scholars and policy makers.Methods The Ordinary Least Squares regression is applied to the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study 2011, a national representative dataset including approximately 10 000 households and 17 600 middle-aged and elderly respondents. The Sobel test is used to examine the mediation role of social integration.Results The elderly who have a cadre child reported better health (coefficient=0.1347; 95\% CI 0.067 to 0.202), had fewer activities of daily living (ADLs) limitations (coefficient=-0.1289; 95\% CI -0.216 to -0.042) and were more socially integrated (coefficient=0.2321; 95\% CI 0.103 to 0.361). Such effects are mainly driven by the parents of higher-ranking cadres. For the parents of higher ranking cadres, the Sobel test suggests that 12.6\% of the total effects on self-reported health and 21.9\% of the total effects on ADL limitations are mediated by the increase in parents{\textquoteright} social integration.Conclusion The findings suggest positive spillover effects of children{\textquoteright}s political status on parents{\textquoteright} health. The benefits of having a cadre child are at least equivalent to the rural{\textendash}urban gap in health and even stronger for the parents of higher ranking cadres. One potential explanation for such spillover effects is that a child{\textquoteright}s political status can improve parents{\textquoteright} community involvement and social interactions.}, issn = {0143-005X}, URL = {https://jech.bmj.com/content/72/11/973}, eprint = {https://jech.bmj.com/content/72/11/973.full.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Epidemiology \& Community Health} }