Chen, YuxuanLi, LiChen, Dong2019-09-252019-09-252016-11-2120151940-1485http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/159555The alarmingly high suicide rate among elderly people warrants improvements in elderly-care patterns in rural China. By using first-hand data from rural areas in Shandong, a typical province in China, this paper employs overall well-being and emotional well-being to measure Subjective Well-being (SWB) and further examines the impact of three elderly-care patterns, as well as their respective dimensions /determinants. Comparative studies are also made between empty nesters and non-empty nesters. The empirical findings show that family elderly-care is still important to elderly people’s SWB, although its influence is in decline. The New Rural Pension Insurance Scheme, representing social elderly-care, while improving life satisfaction, currently plays a limited role due to the fact that the pensions are very low. Those elderly people who rely on self-care, featuring an independent source of income, living with spouse, and engaging frequently in social and entertainment activities, are prone to make positive assessment on SWB. Compared with non-empty nesters, the empty nesters’ SWB is more dependent on personal sources of income and elderly-care facilities.engWith permission of the license/copyright holderElderly-care patternsubjective well-being (SWB)empty nestersEconomic ethicsBusiness ethicsArticle