Background Some bereaved parents experience a decreasing trajectory of grief, while others fail to adapt over the long term and persistently suffer from negative health consequences. This study investigates the mediating role of social integration in the relationship between losing an only child and parental health in a family-oriented society. Method A sample of 1828 bereaved parents and 4739 non-bereaved parents was drawn from a 10-city survey in China. Regression methods were used to examine the impact of child loss on parental health, and Sobel test was applied to examine the mediating role of social integration. Results Bereaved parents who lost their only child have worse self-rated health and more negative affect than the non-bereaved parents, which lasted for years after the death of the only child. The Sobel test shows that 24.8% of the total effects on self-rated health and 6.7% of the total effects on negative affect can be explained via decreased social integration. The gender of parents and child as well as fertility intentions are important sources of heterogeneity in the Chinese culture. Limitation The results based on cross-sectional data may only reveal correlation rather than causality. The data was retrieved from self-reported questionnaires and there is a lack of objective measures of parental health. Moreover, the detailed mechanisms behind how child loss resulted in less social integration should be further explored. Conclusions Significant disparities in health outcomes and social integration were found for bereaved parents relative to the non-bereaved parents. Future work is needed to assess the health of bereaved parents, identify the vulnerable and disadvantaged groups, and design inclusive intervention programs.

家户层面的股票投资不仅是家庭进行资产配置的重要渠道，也是国家金融市场建设的重要环节。本文利用中国义务教育法的实施作为自然实验，基于2015年中国家庭金融调查（CHFS）的数据研究了受教育水平对家户股票市场参与的因果效应。本文发现，教育能显著地提高家庭参与股票市场的概率；但是，没有证据表明高教育水平的家户可以获得更高的股票收益。更进一步地分析发现，教育会通过提升金融知识和改变风险态度等渠道，影响家庭的股票市场参与行为。本文的实证结果表明，提升国民的总体教育水平，不仅可以帮助家庭通过金融市场渠道，优化财富配置，还有助于我国的金融市场良性、健康发展。