A multi-level analysis of older adults' care preferences in China: from the perspective of regional resource equality

This paper aims to assess the care preferences of the elderly in China and how the multi-level factors including individuals, communities and provinces affect the elderly's care preferences. Using data from the 2014 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) and China Statistical Yearbook 2015, we apply concentration index to examine the utilization of regional resources in the elderly and a multi-level model to examine those relationships. Results show that the elderly who live in communities with well-developed health care facilities prefer to choose family care. There are also significant differences at the provincial level. The developed provinces context increases the likelihood of formal care, but decreases informal care probability. In high social security expenditure provinces, the elderly are more likely to choose formal care. Our findings emphasize the influence of the communities and provinces context on the elderly's care preferences. We suggest the government pay attention to the care status of the elderly who are outside the social care system.