Social Networks and Private Medical Insurance Decisions among Chinese Elderly: Evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study on the Roles of Strong and Weak Ties

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_79How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Social Networks; Private Medical Insurance Decisions; Roles of Strong and Weak Ties

Abstract

With advances in medical technology and scientific knowledge, human life expectancy continues to rise, making the challenge of achieving health aging increasingly prominent. While private medical insurance serves as a vital supplement to public healthcare systems, the role of social networks in shaping insurance adoption among older adults remains critically underexplored, despite evidence that social connections influence health-related decision-making. The present research aims to explore the relationship between medical insurance purchase and both “weak ties” and “strong ties” among the elderly by using evidence from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). Drawing on the data, the relationship was checked via a logistic model which contained a variable representing strong ties and two variables standing for online weak ties and offline weak ties. Subsequently, the results indicate a U-shaped relationship between offline weak ties and insurance purchase, as well as a positive effect of online weak ties on insurance adoption at high usage levels. Importantly, these findings reveal a “threshold effect” in the information diffusion process within social networks. In contrast, strong ties showed no significant association, challenging existing theory predictions. These findings offer actionable insights: insurance companies can leverage social network thresholds for targeted marketing, and policymakers should integrate online/offline network dynamics into health security strategies for aging populations.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Zhihua Wei
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/06/18
TI  - Social Networks and Private Medical Insurance Decisions among Chinese Elderly: Evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study on the Roles of Strong and Weak Ties
BT  - Proceedings of the 2025 International Conference on Hybrid Commerce, Human Capital, and Economic Dynamics (ICHCH 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 699
EP  - 708
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_79
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-585-0_79
ID  - Wei2026
ER  -