Department of Community Medicine, School of Medicine, Health Behavior Science Research Unit, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, P.O. Box: 7134845794, Shiraz, Iran.
Student Research Committee, Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz, Iran.
BMC Geriatr. 2024 Aug 3;24(1):655. doi: 10.1186/s12877-024-05252-2.
Older adults are more likely to have poor sleep quality and be socially isolated. The present study examined the potential benefits and disadvantages of social media use (SMU) with respect to sleep quality and perceived social isolation among Iranian late-middle-aged and older adults with focus a on both the mediating and moderating role of psychological distress.
A population-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 900 older community-dwellers living in Shiraz using a structured questionnaire. Social media use was assessed by estimating the frequency of social networking site visits per week. Data concerning self-rated physical health, chronic medical and mental health conditions, perceived social isolation, sleep quality, and psychological distress were also collected. Multiple linear regression was used to identify independent variables associated with outcomes. Then, mediation and moderation models were used to examine the potential mediating and moderating effects of psychological distress and SMU on their relationships with the study variables.
Higher social media use was associated with better sleep quality and less perceived social isolation. Nevertheless, the relationships between SMU and participants' sleep quality and perceived social isolation were largely mediated by their level of psychological distress. Furthermore, SMU had a significant moderating effect in the relationship between the psychological distress and the levels of perceived social isolation, so that participants with higher frequency of SMU per week felt less loneliness.
The study findings suggest that SMU has a positive buffering effect regarding late middle-aged and older adults' mental health mainly through moderation of their perceived social isolation. The mediating role of psychological distress in research examining the relationship between SMU and older adults' mental health outcomes should be considered in future research.
老年人睡眠质量较差且社交孤立的可能性更大。本研究考察了社交媒体使用（SMU）对伊朗中老年人群睡眠质量和感知社交孤立的潜在益处和弊端，重点关注心理困扰的中介和调节作用。
采用基于人群的横断面研究，在设拉子对 900 名居住在社区的老年居民进行了调查，使用了结构化问卷。通过估计每周访问社交网站的频率来评估社交媒体使用情况。还收集了有关自我评估的身体健康、慢性医疗和心理健康状况、感知社交孤立、睡眠质量和心理困扰的数据。使用多元线性回归来确定与结果相关的自变量。然后，使用中介和调节模型来检验心理困扰和 SMU 对其与研究变量关系的潜在中介和调节作用。
更高的社交媒体使用与更好的睡眠质量和更少的感知社交孤立相关。然而，SMU 与参与者睡眠质量和感知社交孤立之间的关系主要通过其心理困扰程度来介导。此外，SMU 在心理困扰与感知社交孤立水平之间的关系中具有显著的调节作用，因此每周使用 SMU 频率较高的参与者感到孤独感较低。
研究结果表明，SMU 对中老年人群的心理健康具有积极的缓冲作用，主要通过调节他们的感知社交孤立来实现。在未来的研究中，应考虑心理困扰在研究 SMU 与老年人心理健康结果之间关系中的中介作用。
