Yan Yong, Xing Huixia
School of Insurance and Economics, University of International Business and Economics, 100029, Beijing, China.
School of Finance, Henan University of Economics and Law, 450046, Zhengzhou, China.
SSM Popul Health. 2025 Jan 9;29:101751. doi: 10.1016/j.ssmph.2025.101751. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Enhancing elderly health has become an important measure for coping with population ageing and building a healthy China. Among them, older adults living alone seem to suffer from greater loneliness and psychological stress. We analyzed data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study in 2015, 2018, and 2020, and carried out an empirical investigation into the impact of digital inclusion on the health of elderly individuals living alone, using two-way fixed effects models and two-stage least squares. The findings suggest that digital inclusion could positively impact the health of older people living alone. Specifically, for a one-standard-deviation increase in digital inclusion, the depression scale score decreases by 0.48 (α = -0.21, p < 0.01); the cognitive function score increases by 0.27(α = 0.12, p < 0.01); the instrumental activities of daily living score would decrease by 0.11 (α = -0.05, p < 0.01). An increase of 1 in the digital inclusion score decreases the self-rated health score by 0.02 (α = -0.02, p < 0.01). It can significantly enhance the health status of elderly people who live alone through mechanisms of improving life satisfaction, increasing the utilization of preventive health care services, and promoting social participation. Subsequent analyses identified varying effects of digital inclusion on older adults living alone, influenced by their income and education levels. In particular, digital inclusion substantially enhanced instrument activities of daily living among the aged who lived alone and with higher income and educational backgrounds. However it had no significant effect on older people living alone with lower incomes and educational backgrounds. The insights from this study could be invaluable for policymakers in promoting broader adoption of digital technologies among older adults living alone.
增进老年人健康已成为应对人口老龄化和建设健康中国的一项重要举措。其中，独居老年人似乎遭受着更大的孤独感和心理压力。我们分析了2015年、2018年和2020年中国健康与养老追踪调查的数据，并运用双向固定效应模型和两阶段最小二乘法，对数字融入对独居老年人健康的影响进行了实证研究。研究结果表明，数字融入对独居老年人的健康有积极影响。具体而言，数字融入每增加一个标准差，抑郁量表得分下降0.48（α = -0.21，p < 0.01）；认知功能得分增加0.27（α = 0.12，p < 0.01）；日常生活活动能力得分下降0.11（α = -0.05，p < 0.01）。数字融入得分每增加1分，自评健康得分下降0.02（α = -0.02，p < 0.01）。它可以通过提高生活满意度、增加预防性医疗服务的利用率以及促进社会参与等机制，显著提升独居老年人的健康状况。后续分析发现，数字融入对独居老年人的影响因他们的收入和教育水平而异。特别是，数字融入显著提高了独居且收入和教育背景较高的老年人的日常生活活动能力。然而，它对收入和教育背景较低的独居老年人没有显著影响。这项研究的见解对于政策制定者推动独居老年人更广泛地采用数字技术可能具有重要价值。
