CHARLS

Introduction: Well‐being is an important component of health, while informal care plays a vital role in daily care of the elderly. However, the effects of informal care on the well‐being of the elderly remain unclear. This study was aimed to estimate such effects, in which well‐being was measured by 2 subjective indicators: happiness and life satisfaction. Methods: Potential endogeneity was purified using instrumental variables. Data were collected from national baseline China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).

Background: The mechanism by which social relationships influence health can be interpreted as a social network regulating one's health behaviors. Based on the hypothesis that relatives, friends, or neighbors are sources of social support and may monitor one's health behaviors, researchers have gotten significant and consistent results that a social network can regulate health behaviors.

Aiming at 'ageing healthier and ageing better', a certain amount of highquality informal care should be available for elderly persons with physical disability as formal care is barely accessible in China. The demographic transition and family structural changes have dramatically weakened traditional norms of filial piety and the structure of intergenerational transfers.