School of Journalism and Communication, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
School of Journalism and Communication, Beijing Sport University, Beijing, China.
Front Public Health. 2022 Sep 26;10:949062. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.949062. eCollection 2022.
The media is playing an increasingly important role in the lives of older adults. Exploring health inequalities in older adults is essential for achieving healthy aging. However, few studies have focused on the effects of different media types on older adults' physical and mental health levels and health inequalities among older adults with varying levels of education from a health communication perspective.
The purpose of this study was to investigate the media use, physical and mental health (Self-rated health and subjective well-being) levels of older adults in China, the relationship between different media types use (Traditional media, internet media), and physical and mental health levels and the effects of different media types use on physical and mental health disparities among older adults with varying levels of education.
The data used in this study are from the 2017 China General Social Survey. The descriptive statistical analysis was conducted on the media use and the health levels of Chinese older adults; analysis of variance and analysis were used to analyze the differences in health levels and frequency of media use among older people with different levels of education; bivariate correlation and regression analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between media use and health levels in older adults; multilevel regression analyses and simple slope plots explored whether the use of different media types widened or narrowed the gap in health levels among older people with varying levels of education.
The results of the study show that (1) the self-rated health levels (M = 2.986, SD = 1.070) are lower in the old people group relative to subjective well-being (M = 3.908, SD = 0.854). While some older adults have mastered the internet media, most of the older population is more accustomed to using traditional media (Especially TV, 77.08% of the elderly are used to watching TV regularly). There are disparities in media use habits and health levels among older adults with different education levels ( < 0.01). (2) traditional media use was a significant positive predictor of physical (B = 0.1, < 0.01) and mental health (B = 0.165, < 0.01) in the older age group. Internet media use was a significant positive predictor of physical health (B = 0.052, < 0.01) in the older age group. (3) traditional and internet media use could narrow the physical and mental health disparities between older people with different education levels ( < 0.05).
There is an essential correlation between media use and the health levels of old people, and media use can effectively narrow the disparities between the physical and mental health of old people with different educational levels. Society should value the media's important role in promoting older persons' health and well-being. Government-related departments can combine the media with public health campaigns to narrow the health disparity among old people with different educational levels and promote equal healthy aging.
媒体在老年人的生活中扮演着越来越重要的角色。探讨老年人中的健康不平等现象对于实现健康老龄化至关重要。然而，很少有研究从健康传播的角度关注不同类型的媒体对老年人身心健康水平以及不同教育程度的老年人健康不平等的影响。
本研究旨在调查中国老年人的媒体使用情况、身心健康水平（自我评估健康和主观幸福感）、不同媒体类型（传统媒体、互联网媒体）使用与身心健康水平之间的关系，以及不同媒体类型使用对不同教育程度老年人身心健康差异的影响。
本研究使用的数据来自 2017 年中国综合社会调查。对中国老年人的媒体使用和健康水平进行描述性统计分析；采用方差分析和 分析比较不同教育程度老年人的健康水平和媒体使用频率差异；采用双变量相关和回归分析探讨老年人媒体使用与健康水平的关系；采用多层次回归分析和简单斜率图探讨不同类型媒体使用是否扩大或缩小了不同教育程度老年人的健康水平差距。
研究结果表明：（1）与主观幸福感（M = 3.908，SD = 0.854）相比，老年人组的自我评估健康水平（M = 2.986，SD = 1.070）较低。虽然一些老年人已经掌握了互联网媒体，但大多数老年人更习惯使用传统媒体（特别是电视，77.08%的老年人经常定期看电视）。不同教育程度的老年人在媒体使用习惯和健康水平方面存在差异（<0.01）。（2）传统媒体使用是老年人身体健康（B = 0.1，<0.01）和心理健康（B = 0.165，<0.01）的显著正向预测因素。互联网媒体使用是老年人身体健康的显著正向预测因素（B = 0.052，<0.01）。（3）传统媒体和互联网媒体的使用可以缩小不同教育程度老年人身心健康的差距（<0.05）。
媒体使用与老年人的健康水平之间存在着至关重要的关联，媒体使用可以有效地缩小不同教育程度老年人身心健康的差距。社会应重视媒体在促进老年人健康和福祉方面的重要作用。政府相关部门可以将媒体与公共卫生运动相结合，缩小不同教育程度老年人的健康差距，促进平等健康老龄化。
