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Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship
The number of elderly Internet users has increased significantly in the past few years, and the Internet has greatly changed the way that older adults access information and communicate. Generally, those who regularly use the Internet may expand their range of interpersonal interactions, which has p...
Autores principales: | , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2023
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022907/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36935716 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1102773 |
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author | Nan, Yan Xie, Yating Hu, Yuqun |
author_facet | Nan, Yan Xie, Yating Hu, Yuqun |
author_sort | Nan, Yan |
collection | PubMed |
description | The number of elderly Internet users has increased significantly in the past few years, and the Internet has greatly changed the way that older adults access information and communicate. Generally, those who regularly use the Internet may expand their range of interpersonal interactions, which has positive effects on their health. Depression is the leading cause of ill health, and is closely related to people's mental health. We sought to investigate whether internet use help reduce depression level among older adults. Using data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a total of 4,714 respondents were included to explore the effects of Internet use on the elderly's depression levels in China, along with the mediating role of interpersonal relationship in the above relationship. Regression results indicated that Internet use significantly reduced depression levels among the elderly. Further analysis showed that different Internet usage had different effects on depression among the elderly. Wechat chatting, video browsing, and online shopping were positively correlated with lower levels of depression. However, playing online games and online learning did not predict reduced levels of depression. Moreover, interpersonal relationship mediated the relationship between Internet use and depression levels. Internet use was associated with a higher level of interpersonal relationship, which in turn reduced depression levels in older adults. Regarding gender and regional differences, the coefficient of Internet use for urban older adults was significantly negative at 0.001 level, while it was not significant for rural older adults. A mediating effect of interpersonal relationship between Internet use and depression levels was only found for male elderly. To reduce the level of depression and promote mental health in the course of aging, Internet use and the improvement of interpersonal relationships merit special attention. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-10022907 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2023 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-100229072023-03-18 Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship Nan, Yan Xie, Yating Hu, Yuqun Front Public Health Public Health The number of elderly Internet users has increased significantly in the past few years, and the Internet has greatly changed the way that older adults access information and communicate. Generally, those who regularly use the Internet may expand their range of interpersonal interactions, which has positive effects on their health. Depression is the leading cause of ill health, and is closely related to people's mental health. We sought to investigate whether internet use help reduce depression level among older adults. Using data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a total of 4,714 respondents were included to explore the effects of Internet use on the elderly's depression levels in China, along with the mediating role of interpersonal relationship in the above relationship. Regression results indicated that Internet use significantly reduced depression levels among the elderly. Further analysis showed that different Internet usage had different effects on depression among the elderly. Wechat chatting, video browsing, and online shopping were positively correlated with lower levels of depression. However, playing online games and online learning did not predict reduced levels of depression. Moreover, interpersonal relationship mediated the relationship between Internet use and depression levels. Internet use was associated with a higher level of interpersonal relationship, which in turn reduced depression levels in older adults. Regarding gender and regional differences, the coefficient of Internet use for urban older adults was significantly negative at 0.001 level, while it was not significant for rural older adults. A mediating effect of interpersonal relationship between Internet use and depression levels was only found for male elderly. To reduce the level of depression and promote mental health in the course of aging, Internet use and the improvement of interpersonal relationships merit special attention. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-03-03 /pmc/articles/PMC10022907/ /pubmed/36935716 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1102773 Text en Copyright © 2023 Nan, Xie and Hu. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Public Health Nan, Yan Xie, Yating Hu, Yuqun Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship |
title | Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship |
title_full | Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship |
title_fullStr | Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship |
title_full_unstemmed | Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship |
title_short | Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship |
title_sort | internet use and depression among chinese older adults: the mediating effect of interpersonal relationship |
topic | Public Health |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10022907/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36935716 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1102773 |
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