Kong Zeyu, Zhu Anqin
School of Government, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China.
Front Public Health. 2025 Jun 10;13:1590684. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2025.1590684. eCollection 2025.
In the context of digitalization and population aging, leveraging Internet technology to reduce the subjective age of older adults helps to promote active aging and healthy aging, thereby contributing to the realization of the development of high-quality national undertakings for the aged.
Data from the Chinese Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS) in 2020 were analyzed. Regression analyses and instrumental variable methods were employed to examine the main effects, heterogeneous effects, and mechanisms of Internet use on the subjective age of older adults. Latent class models and multinomial treatment effect models were used to explore the impact of Internet use patterns on the subjective age of older adults.
Internet use has a significant negative effect on the subjective age of older adults. This conclusion still holds after ruling out endogeneity using instrumental variables methods and conducting various robustness tests. The mechanism test shows that Internet use lowers subjective age by improving health status, self-efficacy, and social capital. Heterogeneity analysis demonstrates that the impact of Internet use on reducing subjective age is more significant among young-old individuals, those with non-agricultural hukou, and those in better economic conditions. Further analysis suggests that different Internet use patterns have varying effects on the subjective age of older adults.
This research suggests that Internet use reduces subjective age among older adults. This effect is primarily realized through improvements in health, self-efficacy, and social capital and varies by age, hukou, economic conditions, and Internet use patterns. These findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of how Internet use can delay subjective aging and offer policy implications for enhancing the digital dividend for older adults.
在数字化和人口老龄化背景下，利用互联网技术降低老年人主观年龄有助于促进积极老龄化和健康老龄化，从而推动高质量老龄事业发展目标的实现。
分析2020年中国老年社会追踪调查（CLASS）的数据。采用回归分析和工具变量法检验互联网使用对老年人主观年龄的主要影响、异质性影响及作用机制。运用潜在类别模型和多项处理效应模型探究互联网使用模式对老年人主观年龄的影响。
互联网使用对老年人主观年龄有显著负向影响。采用工具变量法排除内生性并进行各种稳健性检验后，该结论依然成立。机制检验表明，互联网使用通过改善健康状况、自我效能感和社会资本来降低主观年龄。异质性分析表明，互联网使用对降低主观年龄的影响在低龄老年人、非农业户口老年人以及经济状况较好的老年人中更为显著。进一步分析表明，不同的互联网使用模式对老年人主观年龄有不同影响。
本研究表明，互联网使用可降低老年人的主观年龄。这一效应主要通过改善健康、自我效能感和社会资本来实现，且因年龄、户口、经济状况和互联网使用模式而异。这些发现有助于从理论上理解互联网使用如何延缓主观衰老，并为提高老年人数字红利提供政策启示。
