The Association of Internal Migration and Intergenerational Educational Mobility With Mental and Cognitive Well‐Being in Later Life: Evidence From China
2025-11-07
In recent decades, as much attention has been paid to the relationship between social factors and health over the life course, a growing body of research has recognised that migratory behaviours and social mobility play a critical role in shaping health in later life. Using data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, this study focuses on a wide range of internal migration and social mobility, along with their associations with mental and cognitive well‐being among Chinese middle‐aged and older adults. By conducting multilevel analyses, this study has found that migration categories with urban characteristics are generally linked to better health outcomes, even though some of the benefits are explained, to varying degrees, by early‐life selective factors, late‐life circumstances, and intergenerational educational mobility. However, the relationships are still nuanced by differing health outcomes. For example, after adjusting for intergenerational educational mobility, urban‐to‐urban migration demonstrates the strongest positive association with later‐life mental health, while rural‐to‐urban migration with an urban hukou (household registration system in China) has the most pronounced cognitive advantages in older age. One essential dimension of social mobility is intergenerational educational mobility. This study has also revealed that upward educational mobility (fathers with a primary school or below background and individuals with a secondary school or above background) is the optimal category for mental health, whereas cognitive function is best protected through high stability (both fathers and individuals have a secondary school or above background).