Integrated Care Management Center, Institute of Respiratory Health, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Frontiers Science Center for Disease-related Molecular Network, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.
Front Public Health. 2024 Nov 13;12:1387637. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1387637. eCollection 2024.
In a special period of lack of offline social interaction (pandemic), the mentality of older people is changing quietly. This study aims to dissect the impact of these changes on their mental health.
Utilizing data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS 2020), this research included 7,784 participants aged over 60 years. It evaluated the prevalence of depressive symptoms, and assessed the relative effects of these interactions on depressive symptoms.
(1) a depressive symptom prevalence of 40.65%; (2) a modest engagement in digital communication, with only 20.39% of the older participating; (3) varying prevalences of depressive symptoms across groups, with notable differences depending on the type and combination of social interactions. Specifically, the prevalence was 21.7% among those engaging only in digital communication, and varied from 21.7 to 32.0% among other groups, highlighting the significant impact of social interaction patterns on depressive symptoms. Statistical analysis confirmed the significance of these findings ( = 42.415, < 0.001). (4) In the first model, digital communication was associated with a lower likelihood of depressive symptoms (OR = 0.820, 95%CI: 0.707-0.950, < 0.05). The second model showed no significant effect of offline social interactions on depressive symptoms (OR = 0.124, 95%CI: 0.917-1.143, = 0.678). The third model demonstrated that the inclusion of offline social interaction variables did not significantly alter the beneficial effect of digital communication (OR = 0.820, 95%CI: 0.707-0.952, < 0.05). (5) The results of the 1:1 matching analysis indicated that digital communication significantly alleviated depressive symptoms in older people (ATT = -0.054, < 0.05). Conversely, offline social interactions did not significantly affect the depressive symptoms of this demographic (ATT = -0.028, > 0.05).
The depressive symptoms among older people in China has greatly increased during 2020 which year the COVID-19 pandemic was in the early stage, accompanied by considerable changes in their modes of social interaction. Our findings suggest that the influences of digital communication and offline social interactions on depressive symptoms may have operated independently during the pandemic. The potential of digital communication engagements in enhancing mental health, particularly in exceptional circumstances such as during a pandemic, underscores the need for further exploration.
在缺乏线下社交互动的特殊时期（疫情期间），老年人的心态正在悄然发生变化。本研究旨在剖析这些变化对他们心理健康的影响。
本研究利用中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS 2020）的数据，纳入了 7784 名 60 岁以上的参与者。评估了抑郁症状的流行率，并评估了这些交互作用对抑郁症状的相对影响。
（1）抑郁症状的流行率为 40.65%；（2）数字通信的参与度适中，仅有 20.39%的老年人参与；（3）不同组别的抑郁症状流行率存在差异，且根据社会互动的类型和组合存在显著差异。具体而言，仅参与数字通信的老年人中抑郁症状的流行率为 21.7%，而其他组别的流行率则在 21.7%至 32.0%之间，这突显了社会互动模式对抑郁症状的重大影响。统计分析证实了这些发现的显著性（ = 42.415， < 0.001）。（4）在第一个模型中，数字通信与较低的抑郁症状可能性相关（OR = 0.820，95%CI：0.707-0.950， < 0.05）。第二个模型显示线下社会互动对抑郁症状没有显著影响（OR = 0.124，95%CI：0.917-1.143， = 0.678）。第三个模型表明，纳入线下社会互动变量并没有显著改变数字通信的有益效果（OR = 0.820，95%CI：0.707-0.952， < 0.05）。（5）1:1 匹配分析的结果表明，数字通信显著缓解了老年人的抑郁症状（ATT = -0.054， < 0.05）。相反，线下社会互动并没有显著影响这一年龄段人群的抑郁症状（ATT = -0.028， > 0.05）。
2020 年中国老年人的抑郁症状大幅增加，这一年正值新冠疫情初期，他们的社会互动模式也发生了重大变化。我们的研究结果表明，数字通信和线下社会互动对抑郁症状的影响可能在疫情期间独立发挥作用。数字通信在增进心理健康方面的潜力，特别是在疫情等特殊情况下，突显了进一步探索的必要性。
