Chen Xiaoyi, Wang Nian
College of Digital Economics, Nanning University, Nanning, 530000, China.
China-ASEAN Institute of Statistics, Guangxi University of Finance and Economics, Mingxiu West Road 100, Nanning, 530003, China.
BMC Health Serv Res. 2025 Jan 27;25(1):153. doi: 10.1186/s12913-025-12314-7.
The popularization of the Internet and digital technology has called for higher digital literacy among citizens, especially the elderly. However, most existing studies didn't measure digital literacy at the micro level, and the impact mechanism has rarely been discussed. The purpose of this study is to clarify whether and how digital literacy affects the health status of senior citizens.
The data used in this study are collected from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) from three periods: 2016, 2018, and 2020. The balanced panel data comprised 7836 samples, with 2612 samples per year. Based on the CFPS data, this study constructs a balanced panel and employs a two-way fixed-effects model for the estimation. The instrumental variable (IV) method is employed for tackling the endogenous problems. Next, the mediation effect model is applied to identify the influencing mechanism.
First, digital literacy can improve the health status of senior citizens. This result remains valid after introducing lagged explanatory variables and addressing the endogeneity issues. Second, social support acts as a partial mediator in the relationship between digital literacy and the health status of senior citizens. Third, the heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect of digital literacy on the health status of senior citizens varies across age groups, urban-rural types, and education levels.
This study examines the impact of digital literacy on the health status of senior citizens at the micro-level and identifies the mediation mechanism. The results enhance our understanding of the positive effects of digitalization on aging society and offer useful insights for the government in formulating more targeted active aging strategies.
互联网和数字技术的普及要求公民，尤其是老年人具备更高的数字素养。然而，大多数现有研究并未在微观层面衡量数字素养，且很少讨论其影响机制。本研究的目的是阐明数字素养是否以及如何影响老年人的健康状况。
本研究使用的数据来自中国家庭追踪调查（CFPS）的三个时期：2016年、2018年和2020年。平衡面板数据包含7836个样本，每年有2612个样本。基于CFPS数据，本研究构建了一个平衡面板，并采用双向固定效应模型进行估计。采用工具变量（IV）法解决内生性问题。接下来，应用中介效应模型来识别影响机制。
第一，数字素养可以改善老年人的健康状况。在引入滞后解释变量并解决内生性问题后，这一结果仍然有效。第二，社会支持在数字素养与老年人健康状况之间的关系中起到部分中介作用。第三，异质性分析表明，数字素养对老年人健康状况的影响因年龄组、城乡类型和教育水平而异。
本研究在微观层面考察了数字素养对老年人健康状况的影响，并识别了中介机制。研究结果增进了我们对数字化对老龄化社会积极影响的理解，并为政府制定更具针对性的积极老龄化战略提供了有益的见解。
