Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 22, 2022
Open Peer Review Period: Nov 22, 2022 - Jan 17, 2023
Date Accepted: Aug 8, 2023
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited.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.
Internet Use, Social Participation, and Depressive Symptoms Among Middle-aged and Elderly Chinese: Empirical Study Based on Secondary Data
ABSTRACT
Background:
There is growing evidence that the Internet has beneficial effects on the mental health of older people, but the evidence is not conclusive.
Objective:
This study aims to explore the relationship between different dimensional Internet use and depressive symptoms in Chinese middle-aged and elderly people from a multilevel perspective, as well as the mediating effect of social participation. Moreover, this study will explore the moderating effect of regional informatization development level on the relationship between individual Internet use and social participation and depressive symptoms, respectively.
Methods:
17,676 participants aged ≥45 years were obtained from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) 2018 dataset. Regressions were used to explore the relationship between Internet use at the individual level and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly people, and the mediating effect of social participation on the relationship between Internet use at the individual level and depressive symptoms scores.
Results:
The results showed that 28.5% of the total population exhibited depressive symptoms, and in terms of regional subgroups, respondents living in the western region exhibited the highest proportion (34.69%) of depressive symptoms. Internet use and its different dimensions were all negatively associated with depressive symptoms. Various dimensions of Internet use positively promoted individual social participation and reduced individual depressive symptoms. In addition, the regional informatization development level weakened the relationship between individual-level Internet use and social participation, and negatively moderated the relationship between the frequency of Internet use and depressive symptoms.
Conclusions:
This study provides some preliminary evidence that Internet use can help increase the social participation of middle-aged and elderly people, thereby alleviating depressive symptoms in China’s middle-aged and elderly; In addition, regional informatization development will help individuals to further Internet use and social participation, and reduce the impact of depressive symptoms.
Citation
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