Table 5

OLS and IRT Analysis of Mental Intactness

Independent VariablesOLSIRT
(1)(2)(3)
Demographics
    Age (+45)0.119**(0.047)0.120**(0.047)0.055***(0.018)
    Age square / 100−0.122***(0.038)−0.123***(0.038)−0.055***(0.015)
    Female−0.516***(0.127)−0.409***(0.132)−0.158***(0.052)
    Urban0.121(0.131)0.266*(0.139)0.084(0.055)
    Urban*female0.358**(0.160)0.067(0.187)0.028(0.073)
    Height0.012**(0.005)0.011**(0.005)0.004**(0.002)
SES
Education (illiterate omitted)
    Sishu/home school and below1.312***(0.115)1.298***(0.115)0.543***(0.045)
    Elementary school1.511***(0.120)1.486***(0.120)0.603***(0.047)
    Middle school1.808***(0.135)1.781***(0.135)0.695***(0.053)
    High school and above2.256***(0.184)2.254***(0.184)0.939***(0.072)
    Female*high school and above−0.120(0.278)−0.184(0.278)−0.093(0.109)
Log household PCE0.112**(0.046)0.114**(0.046)0.061***(0.018)
Community log PCE0.483***(0.144)0.218(0.169)0.083(0.066)
Community log PCE*female0.558***(0.186)0.286***(0.073)
Prefecture dummiesYesYesYes
Observation1,8731,8731,873
R–squared0.3980.4010.430
  • Note: Standard errors in parentheses.

  • *** p < 0.01,

  • ** p < 0.05,

  • * p <0.1. Mental Intactness is based on components of the TICS battery scaled from 0–11 that are meant to capture intact mental status. Models 1 and 2 are based on Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) while Model 3 uses Item Response Theory (IRT). IRT models the response of a respondent of a given ability to each item in the test. The estimated coefficients from the Bayesian expected posterior model are listed. Prefectures are administrative units that govern a combination of counties in China.