Does Social Participation Improve Cognitive Abilities of the Elderly?

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of social participation on cognitive performance by using data from a longitudinal survey of Chinese elderly. It addresses the problem of endogenous participation by exploiting the variation in changes of social participation that are driven by change in community service for social activities. The results show that participating in social activity has significantly positive impacts on the cognitive function of the elderly. The point estimates indicate that cognitive score increases by 29% of a standard deviation as a result of engaging in social activity. I also investigate heterogeneity and potential mechanisms of the effect.

Keywords: cognitive function, social participation, ageing, elderly

JEL Classification: J14, I12, O53