Career Development, Institutional Factors, Social Factors and Urban Young Returnees' Happiness in the Context of Healthy China

Feiwei Shen; Jing Zou; Xianhong Huang; Cong Wang; Mingjie Zhao

doi:10.3390/ijerph19159379

Career Development, Institutional Factors, Social Factors and Urban Young Returnees' Happiness in the Context of Healthy China

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jul 31;19(15):9379. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19159379.

Authors

Feiwei Shen¹, Jing Zou^{2

3

4}, Xianhong Huang⁵, Cong Wang⁶, Mingjie Zhao⁴

Affiliations

¹ College of Public Administration, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
² School of Public Affairs, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China.
³ Hangzhou International Urbanology Research Center and Zhejiang Urban Governance Studies Center, Hangzhou 311121, China.
⁴ School of Finance, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, Hangzhou 310018, China.
⁵ Department of Health Policy and Management, School of Public Health, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.
⁶ School of Public Health, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou 311121, China.

Abstract

In the context of the Healthy China 2030 Plan, the importance of the happiness of urban young returnees should not be underestimated. Based on a large-scale social survey of social practices in China, this paper applies a hierarchical linear regression model (HLM) and a structural equation model (SEM) to investigate the determinants of urban young returnees' happiness. The results show that the happiness of urban young returnees in China is not only influenced by their socio-demographic characteristics, such as age and education, but mainly by their occupational development, institutional factors (especially the employment and entrepreneurship policy system) and social factors (physical environment and urban rural relationship), which are different from those of ordinary residents. Further study shows that occupational development indirectly affects the happiness of urban young returnees through relationship adaptation, collective adaptation and material adaptation, the indirect effects accounts for 42.18%, 21.64% and 36.18%, respectively. Institutional factors exert an indirect effect on the happiness of urban young returnees through relationship adaptation (46.80%) and material adaptation (53.20%). Social factors indirectly affect the happiness of urban young returnees through relationship adaptation (44.20%), collective adaptation (16.96%) and material adaptation (38.84%). Policies to improve the happiness of urban young returnees are suggested.

Keywords: HLM; SEM; happiness; healthy China; urban young returnees.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

China
Happiness*
Health Status
Humans
Rural Population
Social Factors*

Grants and funding

This research was funded by the project of the post-doctoral research base of Hangzhou International Urbanology Research Center of Zhejiang University (22CYBHJD02), Leisure Empowers Common Prosperity of Zhejiang University (22CSX13), the Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences in Colleges and Universities in Sichuan Province (SQZL2022A01) and the Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China (2021M692844).