Abstract
Tea consumption has been documented to be influential on Asian older adults’ health. Nonetheless, few studies have investigated period and cohort changes in the linkage of tea consumption and older adults’ health. This study intended to fill the voids of prior literature by studying Chinese oldest old through analyzing data from eight (1998, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2008, 2011-12, 2014 and 2018) waves of the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS). Health outcomes were measured by self-rated health (SRH), cognitive function, chronic diseases and subjective wellbeing. The results showed percentages of frequent and occasional tea consumers among Chinese oldest old were declining over time. The drop in such percentages were more apparent among younger birth cohorts. Frequent tea consumers showed better health outcomes in all health dimensions, followed by occasional tea consumers. Over time, the predicted SRH, cognitive function, chronic diseases and subjective wellbeing showed an increasing trend. The period effect was also shown in crossovers of positive feeling scores in year 2008 among oldest old with different tea consumption patterns. It implied that impacts of major social events can overweight those of behavioral factors, such as tea drinking, on oldest old’s subjective feelings. Cohort effects were not as apparent as period effects. The study corroborated the beneficial effects of tea drinking on older adults’ health. It also emphasized the importance of taking period and cohort effects into consideration when linking health life styles to older adults’ health.