The long-run and intergenerational impact of early exposure to the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61 on mental health

Chih Ming Tan; Xiaobo Zhang; Xin Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101461

The long-run and intergenerational impact of early exposure to the Great Chinese Famine of 1959-61 on mental health

Econ Hum Biol. 2024 Dec 15:56:101461. doi: 10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101461. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Chih Ming Tan¹, Xiaobo Zhang², Xin Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Economics & Finance, Nistler College of Business and Public Administration, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND 58202-8369, USA. Electronic address: chihming.tan@und.edu.
² Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China; International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Washington, DC 20006, USA. Electronic address: x.zhang@gsm.pku.edu.cn.
³ School of Statistics, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China; Institute for Global Health and Development, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. Electronic address: xin.zhang614@bnu.edu.cn.

PMID: 39708612
DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101461

Abstract

We study the effects of early exposure to the Great Chinese Famine on the mental health and subjective well-being of survivors as well as their offspring using data from the 2010 and 2014 waves of the China Family Panel Studies. Our analysis focuses on K6 scores, severe mental illness, and life dissatisfaction. We find that early exposure to the famine has impaired the mental health outcomes of women, but not men (i.e., the first generation). For the second generation, negative effects only show up among the sons of male famine survivors. Some preliminary evidence suggests that the mechanism for such transmission may have to do with the cultural son preference.

Keywords: China; Great Chinese Famine; Intergenerational impact; Mental health; Subjective well-being.