Background: It is unclear that whether childhood neighborhood relationship is associated with mental health among middle-aged and older adults. To overcome this research gap, this study aimed to investigate the association between childhood neighborhood relationship and mental health among the middle-aged and older adults in China. Methods: The data of this study was sourced from the 2014 and 2015 waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. We used ordinary least squares and logit regression models to explore the association between childhood neighborhood relationship and mental health among the middle-aged and older adults in China. Results: The regression results indicate that the middle-aged and older adults who lived in place where neighbors had close-knit relationships at childhood was significantly associated with decreased odds of suffering from depressive symptoms (OR = 0.4259, p < 0.001). Furthermore, compared to the middle-aged and older adults who lived in place where neighbors were not close-knit at childhood, those who lived in place where neighbors were close-knit at childhood had a reduced CES–D score (coefficient = − 2.7822, p < 0.001). Conclusion: This study demonstrates the importance of living in place where neighbors had close-knit relationships at childhood. The integrated interventions, including maintaining close-knit neighborhood relationships and strengthening the construction of community, may be useful to improve mental health.

Objective: With accelerated population aging in China, older adult services and long-term care for people with disabilities are becoming serious problems. Currently, mobilizing and allocating social resources, establishing reasonable financing mechanisms to address the growing demand for long-term care for those with disabilities, and ensuring the sustainable operation of long-term care insurance financing mechanism are vital.Methods: Taking Nanning, China, as an example, based on the Nanning Statistical Yearbook and relevant policy documents of government departments such as the medical care and security department, we use the PADIS-INT model and the International Labour Organization financing model(ILO Model) to estimate the contribution levels of Nanning’s residents’ long-term care insurance for the years of 2025, 2030, and 2035, and analyze the feasibility of the government’s and rural and urban residents’ individual contribution burden.Results: The average annual contribution amount of long-term care insurance for urban and rural residents will increase from 108.80 yuan in 2025 to 202.71 yuan in 2035. According to the sharing method, in which the government and individuals each bear 50% of the financing responsibility for long-term care insurance, the proportion of the government’s financial responsibility for the cost of long-term care insurance for urban and rural residents to the current year”s financial income will be 0.34, 0.42, and 0.50% in 2025, 2030, and 2035, respectively, and the amount of money that can be used by individual urban and rural residents to pay premiums from 2025 to 2035 will range from 10.7 to 16 thousand yuan.Conclusion: The finding shows that both the government and urban and rural residents can afford to pay future long-term care insurance costs; however, the long-term care insurance contributions of individual urban and rural residents in Nanning remain high. Hence, the Nanning municipal government should improve the awareness and participation rate of urban and rural residents in long-term care insurance; scientifically measure the financing level of long-term care insurance; establish a multichannel, scientifically reasonable, and dynamically adjusted long-term care insurance financing mechanism; and maintain the sustainable operation of the financing mechanism of long-term care insurance in Nanning.

While studies have reported a positive association between medical insurance and life satisfaction, there is a lack of studies assessing the underlying impact mechanism. The present study aims to investigate the association between Urban and Rural Resident Basic Medical Insurance (URRBMI) and life satisfaction in China, focusing on the mediating role of depression. Using 2018 wave of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we employed ordered logit regression models to examine the correlation between URRBMI and life satisfaction. Causal mediation analysis was used to analyze the mediating effect of depression on this association. URRBMI participation was related to greater life satisfaction (p < 0.01). Depression mediated the correlation between URRBMI and life satisfaction, and the percentage of total effect mediated was 18.20%. Middle-aged and older adults covered by URRBMI were more likely to have greater life satisfaction than their counterparts because insurance relieved depression. Our study highlighted many policy suggestions, such as improving its coverage, establishing a unified information platform, and mobilizing social forces to provide better life services.