Effects of Serving as a State Functionary on Self-Rated Health: Empirical Evidence From China

• Main Authors: Li He (Author), Zixian Zhang (Author), Jiangyin Wang (Author), Yuting Wang (Author), Tianyang Li (Author), Tianyi Yang (Author), Tianlan Liu (Author), Yuanyang Wu (Author), Shuo Zhang (Author), Siqing Zhang (Author), Hualei Yang (Author), Kun Wang (Author)
• Format: Book
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A., 2022-04-01T00:00:00Z.
• Subjects: article
• Online Access: Connect to this object online.
• Notes: 2296-2565; 10.3389/fpubh.2022.757036
• Keywords: state functionary; civil servants; occupation; self-rated health; China Labour-Force Dynamics Survey; Public aspects of medicine; RA1-1270
• Source: Frontiers in Public Health, Vol 10 (2022)

PurposeThere is a strong link between occupation and self-rated health. Existing research has revealed the effects of occupation on self-rated health outcomes and the corresponding mechanisms. However, there is a lack of research on the effects of state services on self-rated health in China. Therefore, this study focuses on exploring the effects of serving as a state functionary in China on self-rated health to enrich research in related fields.MethodBased on the data of 14,138 individuals collected from the 2016 China Labour-Force Dynamics Survey, the logit model was used to investigate the effects of serving as a state functionary on self-rated health and the difference in the effects across different populations.ResultsThe results show that (1) serving as a state functionary has a significant positive effect on self-rated health; (2) self-rated health of elderly state functionaries is higher than that of younger state functionaries; (3) self-rated health of state functionaries in non-eastern regions is higher than that of state functionaries in eastern regions; and (4) state functionaries with lower education have higher self-rated health than highly-educated state functionaries; (5) Higher self-rated health of state functionaries is achieved primarily through better work time, better work environment and lower relative deprivation.ConclusionServing as a state functionary in China has a significant positive correlation with self-rated health, with differences across populations of state functionaries. This study expands the current literature on the effects of occupation on self-rated health in the context of China.