The impact of the send-down experience on the health of elderly Chinese women: Evidence from the China family panel studies

From a life course perspective, a "major social change event" experienced by individuals in early life will affect their health in adulthood. Here we select a group of elderly women whose health is often disadvantaged and use data from the China Family Panel Studies as the sample. Our fuzzy regression discontinuity results show that experiencing the "send-down" experience increased the probability of elderly women suffering from chronic diseases by 6.9% and reduced their mental health by 1.6%. Additionally, the "send-down" experience affects women's health in old age by influencing their socioeconomic status and subjective well-being in later life. Our results provide a reference for the future optimization of the Chinese government and our society's health security system.