Individual and Contextual Approaches to the Determinants of the Health-seeking Behaviours of the Middle-aged and Older Chinese Population

Based on the Andersen behavioural model, this article uses the 2011 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) data and the hierarchical linear model to explore the impacts of various factors at individual and contextual levels on the health-seeking behaviour of middle-aged and older Chinese people. Results have found that certain factors at both levels showed statistically significant impacts on target groups’ health-seeking behaviour. Moreover, this behaviour revealed significant gender differences. Future healthcare policies should place greater emphasis on individual and contextual factors, and further advance gender equality in healthcare.