The Relationship between Socioeconomic Status, Mental Health, and Need for Long-Term Services and Supports among the Chinese Elderly in Shandong Province—A Cross-Sectional Study

This study aims to clarify the association between socioeconomic status (SES), mental health, and the need for long-term services and support (NLTSS) of the Chinese elderly, and further, to provide evidence-based suggestions for the development of the long-term services and support (LTSS) system in China. A cross-sectional survey using a multi-stage random sampling method was conducted in Shandong Province, China, in 2017. Data were collected from seniors aged over 60 years old through questionnaires by face-to face interviews. A total of 7070 subjects were included in the final database (40.3% male and 59.7% female). A chi-square test analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) were employed to explore the relationship between SES, mental health, and NLTSS for both male and female elderly people. The SEM analysis showed that mental health was significantly and negatively associated with NLTSS for both male elderly and female elderly, and it was slightly stronger among the male elderly. A significant and negative relationship was observed between SES and NLTSS for both genders, and the association was stronger among the female elderly. SES exerted a positive effect on mental health for both male and female elderly people, and a slightly stronger effect was found among the male elderly. Advice for the development of a LTSS system in China was given based on the above results.