Beyond Economic Transfers: Formal Support, Family Support, and Psychological Well-Being Among Rural Left-Behind Older Adults in China

As China's rural population ages, left-behind older adults increasingly depend on formal economic support. Drawing on 1,025 rural respondents aged 60 and above from the 2022 China Family Panel Studies, I examined associations of formal economic support and informal family support with psychological well-being using OLS models and robustness checks. In the main specifications, pension receipt and government subsidies were not significantly associated with depressive symptoms or happiness. Family support was associated with higher happiness, carried by relational components rather than financial transfers. Findings support task differentiation theory: economic instruments secure material needs without substituting for family-based psychosocial support.