Impact of Internet Use on Elderly Health: Empirical Study Based on Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) Data

Abstract

In the current era, the rapid spread of Internet technology has combined with various traditional industries; this provides new research perspectives and solutions for current problems, such as those in the elderly care industry. Elderly health is an important social problem in various countries, and governments have turned to the internet for new methods and better solutions. However, internet-use behavior has a certain influence on the elderly’s health status. This study investigates the effects of internet use on the elderly’s physical health, mental health, and self-rated health, along with the moderating role of individual cognitive ability in the above relationship. This study uses data from the Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS) in 2012 and 2015 as samples for analysis via the hierarchical regression method. The sample is from China and had 2821 and 3185 valid respondents in 2012 and 2015, respectively. Results show that internet use significantly affects the physical and mental health of the elderly and does not significantly affect self-rated health. In addition, individual cognitive ability plays a negative moderating role between internet use and physical and mental health. Finally, on the basis of results analysis and discussion, this study provides new recommendations to achieve targeted health improvements.

More Frequent Internet Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic Associates with Enhanced Quality of Life and Lower Depression Scores in Middle-Aged and Older Adults

“…In this study we investigated the relationships between internet use (frequency and purpose) and both depression symptoms and QoL, in a sample of 3491 older adults (aged 55-75) using self-reported data collected in June/July 2020. Previous data, collected before the COVID-19 pandemic, support a positive association between internet use frequency and measures of mental health and life satisfaction, both in the ELSA cohort utilised here [16,17] and other cohorts/populations [9][10][11]. The current study analysed data collected while lockdown restrictions and social distancing measures were in place throughout the UK, to investigate and assess whether these relationships were present (and potentially more significant) under these conditions.…”

“…A recent review considered 18 quantitative cross-sectional studies and found that all studies but 1 reported statistically significant correlations between internet use and mental health in later life [9]. More recent studies confirm such associations [10]. Longitudinally, cotton and Ford [11] found internet use to reduce the probability of subsequent depression amongst retired US adults by a third; the effects were largest for people living alone, supporting the notion that internet use might reduce depression risk by mitigating social isolation and loneliness.…”

The Health Effect of the Number of Children on Chinese Elders: An Analysis Based on Hukou Category

“…In addition, as the direct bearer of pregnancy, mothers often bear the brunt of the negative health effects of giving birth, diminished fertility would thus naturally lower the risks facing women (43,44). Meanwhile, the coefficients of the interaction term are all statistically insignificant in columns (2)(3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8), suggesting universality of our earlier results.…”

“…The relatively inferior education quality and infrastructure concomitant with rural hukou and cumulative dis/advantage theory may lead to impairment of the efficiency of the "quantity-quality tradeoff " theory in China's rural families, and undermine the potential advantage of having fewer children for rural elders. 4 We selected seven variables (overall KMO value = 0.7626) to construct a housing condition factor: the type of structure of the current residence (concrete = 1, others = 0); the type of toilet (with a seat = 1, without a seat = 0); whether current residence has electricity (yes = 1, no = 0); whether current residence has running water (yes = 1, no = 0); whether current residence is equipped with an in-house shower or bath facility (yes = 1, no = 0); whether current residence has a coal gas or natural gas supply (yes = 1, no = 0); and whether current residence has a broadband Internet connection (yes=1, no=0). The factor analysis using the aforementioned iterated communalities were employed again to rotate the housing condition factor.…”

The Relationship between Energy Poverty and Individual Development: Exploring the Serial Mediating Effects of Learning Behavior and Health Condition

“…CGSS is an authoritative survey project conducted by National Survey Research Center at Renmin University of China. In compliance with multistage stratified sampling, CGSS has been continuously collecting cross-sectional data from different provinces [54,55]. In addition to the core modules, CGSS conducted in different years contains different modules to help scholars and governments investigate emerging social issues in each period.…”