Guo Mengzi, Li Zihang, Chen Yixuan, Chen Xiangwan, Cheng Zhi, Tang Zhiru
School of Health Administration, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230032, China.
BMC Public Health. 2025 Mar 19;25(1):1057. doi: 10.1186/s12889-025-22141-4.
Research has identified the effect of Internet use on depressive symptoms, where as the results remain controversial. Given the fact that both Internet use and depressive symptoms are in dynamic change, this paper focuses on the relationship between depressive symptoms and Internet use among Chinese elderly people in the context of population aging, which could generate targeted policy recommendations aimed at safeguarding the healthy development of older adults and provide an important basis for the government to build a more inclusive aging society.
A total of 15,637 samples were extracted for analyses using CHARLS (China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study) data after matching the 2018 and 2020 data by sample-identified correlation IDs (including ID, household ID, and community ID). The matching was intended to reduce the potential for confounding variables that could arise if the two datasets included different individuals, and make it easier to draw conclusions about the relationship between depressive symptoms and Internet use over time for the consistent people. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS 28.0 and STATA software. Measurement data were expressed as and count data were expressed as frequency (%). Comparisons between groups were performed using t-test and ANOVA (The Analysis of Variance). Correlation analyses were performed using multiple linear regression and ordered probit regression analyses, and the test level was set at α = 0.05.
Older adults with greater device ownership had less severer depressive symptoms (P < 0.001) and those without Internet access (P < 0.05) had severer depressive symptoms. Older adults who didn't use mobile phones to pay (P < 0.001) and didn't use WeChat (P < 0.05) or post to their friends (P < 0.001) had severer depressive symptoms. The impact of Internet use was more evident among older adults who self-assessed health very good, were relatively younger, urban, and in marriage (P < 0.05).
Internet use might have a significant impact on depressive symptoms among older adults in the context of population aging.
研究已确定互联网使用对抑郁症状的影响，但其结果仍存在争议。鉴于互联网使用和抑郁症状都处于动态变化中，本文聚焦于人口老龄化背景下中国老年人抑郁症状与互联网使用之间的关系，这可为保障老年人健康发展制定针对性政策建议，并为政府建设更具包容性的老龄社会提供重要依据。
通过样本识别相关ID（包括身份证号、家庭ID和社区ID）对2018年和2020年的中国健康与养老追踪调查（CHARLS）数据进行匹配后，共提取15637个样本进行分析。这种匹配旨在减少如果两个数据集包含不同个体可能出现的混杂变量的可能性，并便于就同一批人随时间推移抑郁症状与互联网使用之间的关系得出结论。使用SPSS 28.0和STATA软件进行统计分析。计量资料以均数表示，计数资料以频数（%）表示。组间比较采用t检验和方差分析。采用多重线性回归和有序概率回归分析进行相关性分析，检验水准设定为α = 0.05。
拥有更多设备的老年人抑郁症状较轻（P < 0.001），而没有互联网接入的老年人抑郁症状较重（P < 0.05）。不使用手机支付的老年人（P < 0.001）、不使用微信的老年人（P < 0.05）或不发朋友圈的老年人（P < 0.001）抑郁症状较重。在自我评估健康状况非常好且相对年轻、居住在城市且已婚的老年人中，互联网使用的影响更为明显（P < 0.05）。
在人口老龄化背景下，互联网使用可能对老年人的抑郁症状产生显著影响。
