Department of Social Work, Faculty of Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong.
School of Graduate Studies, Lingnan University, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong.
Aging Ment Health. 2024 Sep;28(9):1216-1224. doi: 10.1080/13607863.2024.2323953. Epub 2024 Mar 4.
Previous studies on the associations between Internet use and older people's depression have mostly focused on single types of online activities, especially online social engagement. The current study investigated the diversity of purposes of Internet use and its interaction with the time spent online in shaping older Chinese Internet users' depression. A sample of 974 Internet users aged 60 and above was adopted from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies wave. We adopted a latent class analysis (LCA) to explore the diverse purposes of internet usage. The participants were classified into three distinct types: socializers, basic users, and maximizers. Basic users and maximizers use the Internet for various purposes, despite different intensities; socializers use the Internet only to keep connected with families and friends. Compared with basic users and maximizers, a longer time spent online among socializers was significantly associated with a higher level of depression. This study calls for a closer examination of online profiles among older Internet users; more attention should be paid to the potential harms of excessive Internet use for social reasons only among older adults. Practitioners should enhance older Internet users' digital literacy to maximize the wide-range benefits of Internet use and reduce potential health inequality.
先前关于互联网使用与老年人抑郁之间关联的研究大多集中在单一类型的在线活动上，尤其是在线社交参与。本研究调查了互联网使用目的的多样性及其与上网时间的相互作用，以塑造中国老年互联网用户的抑郁状况。本研究从 2020 年中国家庭追踪调查中抽取了 974 名 60 岁及以上的互联网用户作为样本。我们采用潜在类别分析（LCA）来探索互联网使用的不同目的。参与者被分为三种不同类型：社交者、基本用户和最大化者。基本用户和最大化者虽然使用互联网的强度不同，但使用互联网有多种目的；社交者仅使用互联网与家人和朋友保持联系。与基本用户和最大化者相比，社交者上网时间较长与抑郁程度较高显著相关。本研究呼吁更仔细地研究老年互联网用户的在线档案；应更加关注仅因社交原因过度使用互联网对老年人可能造成的危害。从业者应提高老年互联网用户的数字素养，以最大限度地发挥互联网使用的广泛效益，减少潜在的健康不平等。
