Zhang Chen, Zhu Bochen
Economics and Management School, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.
Front Public Health. 2025 Apr 22;13:1536191. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1536191. eCollection 2025.
In recent years, short videos have become increasingly popular in rural China, yet their impact on mental health remains underexplored. While prior studies have debated the psychological effects of social media, little is known about how short-form video consumption affects rural populations.
This study investigates the causal relationship between short video consumption and mental health among rural residents in China.
We use longitudinal data from the China Family Panel Studies and apply a Difference-in-Differences strategy to estimate the impact of frequent short video usage on mental health. To address self-selection and staggered treatment timing, we employ Propensity Score Matching and heterogeneity-robust difference-in-differences estimators. Robustness checks include placebo tests and an event study analysis.
We find that short video consumption appears to improve mental health among rural residents. The effect is immediate and significant only in the first year of exposure, but fades in subsequent periods. Mechanism analysis suggests that the improvements are driven by enhanced entertainment and information access rather than increased social interaction. The effects are more pronounced in economically underdeveloped and less pandemic-affected regions, but not evident among urban residents.
Short videos provide short-term mental health benefits for rural Chinese residents by enriching their leisure and information access, especially in less developed areas. However, their positive effect is transient and cannot offset pandemic-related stress. Policy efforts should aim to balance the benefits of digital entertainment with potential risks such as addiction and information overload.
近年来，短视频在中国农村地区越来越受欢迎，但其对心理健康的影响仍未得到充分探索。虽然先前的研究对社交媒体的心理影响存在争议，但对于短视频消费如何影响农村人口却知之甚少。
本研究调查了中国农村居民短视频消费与心理健康之间的因果关系。
我们使用了中国家庭追踪调查的纵向数据，并应用双重差分策略来估计频繁使用短视频对心理健康的影响。为了解决自我选择和交错治疗时间的问题，我们采用倾向得分匹配和异质性稳健双重差分估计器。稳健性检验包括安慰剂检验和事件研究分析。
我们发现，短视频消费似乎能改善农村居民的心理健康。这种影响在接触的第一年是即时且显著的，但在随后的时期会逐渐减弱。机制分析表明，这种改善是由娱乐和信息获取的增加而非社交互动的增加驱动的。这种影响在经济欠发达和受疫情影响较小的地区更为明显，但在城市居民中并不明显。
短视频通过丰富中国农村居民的休闲和信息获取，特别是在欠发达地区，为他们提供了短期的心理健康益处。然而，其积极影响是短暂的，无法抵消与疫情相关的压力。政策努力应旨在平衡数字娱乐的益处与成瘾和信息过载等潜在风险。
