Compared with non-myopic students, myopic students face more barriers to learning (e.g., inability to see the blackboard clearly) and socializing (e.g., being victims of teasing, social exclusion and violence), which may lead to increased stress, anxiety and frustration. The high prevalence of myopia and depression among school-age children naturally raises a question of great policy relevance: are myopic students more vulnerable to mental health problems such as depression? This paper sheds some light on this question by analyzing data from the China Education Panel Survey, a large-scale survey of China’s middle school students. Our analysis first quantifies the association between myopia and sample students’ depression status (measured by the widely adopted CES-D scale) adjusted for potential confounding factors. We then explore whether the myopia–depression relationship is mediated by wearing eyeglasses, a cost-effective means of vision correction. Based on data on 19,299 middle school students, our analysis reveals that myopic students scored 0.12 standard deviations higher on the CES-D scale than their non-myopic counterparts. The adverse effect of myopia is more severe for relatively disadvantaged students: older students (who are more likely to suffer from both myopia and depression), lower-performing students and students from poorer families. Further medication analysis shows that wearing eyeglasses suppresses the myopia–depression relationship but cannot completely offset the adverse effect of myopia.

The lack of formal eye screening is the main reason for insufficient eye care utilization in rural China. Cataract, in particular, is increasingly prevalent with the aging population, but the treatment rate is relatively low. Village doctors are the most accessible health care resource for rural residents, receiving few empirical investigations into their role in eye care. This study aims to assess the role of village doctors in residents’ uptake of eye screening (vision and cataract screening), the first step of cataract treatment. Data come from a community-based, cross-sectional survey conducted in 35 villages of a county of the Gansu Province, Northwestern China, in 2020. Among 1010 residents aged ≥ 50 and 35 village doctors, the multivariate logistic regression shows that village doctors’ age, time spent on public health service, and service population were positively associated with residents’ uptake of vision and cataract screening. Village doctors were capable of playing an active role in primary eye health services due to their richer knowledge about cataracts than residents (accuracy rate 86.75% vs. 63.50%, p < 0.001), but less than half of them were willing to undertake eye screening. This study highlights the positive role of village doctors in aging residents’ eye screening and the potential role in improving the uptake of eye screening by offering health education.

This study examines the consumption-stimulation function of public health insurance (PHI) programs from the perspective of food consumption. We estimate the impact of enrollment in rural China's PHI program, the New Cooperative Medical Scheme (NCMS), on the insured's diet diversity and diet balance using panel data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey. Exploiting temporal and spatial variations in the program's local implementation, our difference-in-differences estimation (combined with propensity score matching in some analyses) reveals significant increases in the insured's diet diversity, overall diet balance, and nutrition intakes. However, the program's consumption-stimulation function is not entirely beneficial. While NCMS enrollment reduced the incidence of under-consumption of animal products and fruits, it raised that of over-consumption of grains, imposing potential health risks on the insured.

Purpose: Motivated by China's rapid population aging and intensified concerns about insufficient support for older adults, this study seeks to provide causal evidence on the long-term effects of having more children on parental happiness in old age in rural China, an area that has experienced dramatic declines in fertility rates since the 1970s. Design/methodology/approach: China's family-planning policies since the 1970s provided exogenous shocks to young couples' fertility decisions. The interplay between women's childbearing age and the timing and stringency of local policy implementation was used to construct instrumental variables for families' fertility decisions, enabling identification of the latter's effects. Findings: Analyzing data on 5,439 rural individuals aged 60 and above from the China Family Panel Studies, our instrumental-variable estimates suggest that having an additional child raises aged parents' happiness level by 0.5 points (out of 10) and life satisfaction by 0.2 points (out of 5). These effects are driven by increased non-economic support (e.g. frequent contact and visits) rather than economic support from children. Originality/value: Our study is among the few that link fertility to aged parents' subjective well-being in developing countries, complementing previous scholarship by depicting a fuller picture of the long-term effects of fertility and population policy.