Currently submitted to: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jul 20, 2026
Open Peer Review Period: Jul 27, 2026 - Sep 21, 2026
(currently open for review)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Digital Social Engagement and Frailty Among Korean Older Adults: The Sequential Mediating Role of Social Isolation and Self-Efficacy
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital social engagement is increasingly recognized as a modifiable resource for healthy aging. However, the psychosocial mechanisms linking digital engagement to physical frailty remain insufficiently understood.
Objective:
This study examined whether social isolation and self-efficacy sequentially mediated the association between digital social engagement and frailty among Korean older adults.
Methods:
Data were drawn from the 2024 AgeTech Research Institute panel survey of Korean older adults (N = 435). Serial mediation analysis was conducted using PROCESS macro Model 6, adjusting for sociodemographic covariates.
Results:
Higher digital social engagement was associated with lower frailty. Two indirect pathways were statistically significant: an independent pathway through self-efficacy and a sequential pathway through social isolation and self-efficacy. The independent mediating effect of social isolation was not statistically significant. Self-efficacy showed the strongest mediating effect in the association between digital social engagement and frailty.
Conclusions:
Digital social engagement may support healthy aging not only by strengthening social connections but also by enhancing psychological resources. Self-efficacy appears to be a key mechanism linking digital social engagement to lower frailty vulnerability. Interventions that promote meaningful digital social engagement and strengthen self-efficacy may contribute to frailty prevention among older adults.
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Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.