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Internet use and self‐rated health among Chinese older adults: The mediating role of social capital
Author(s) -
Lyu Shoujun,
Sun Jian
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geriatrics and gerontology international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.823
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1447-0594
pISSN - 1444-1586
DOI - 10.1111/ggi.14090
Subject(s) - self rated health , social capital , the internet , logistic regression , medicine , gerontology , china , psychology , geography , sociology , social science , archaeology , world wide web , computer science
Aim This study aimed to examine the relationship between Internet use and self‐rated health among older adults in China, with a particular focus on the mediating role of social capital. Methods The data used in this study was obtained from the 2018 wave of China Family Panel Studies, including 7193 older adults aged between 60 and 95 years in urban and rural areas. Furthermore, a binary logit regression model was used to explore the association between Internet use and self‐rated health among older adults. Moreover, we investigated the mediating effect of social capital on the relationship between Internet use and self‐rated health among older adults. Results The overall regression results show that Internet use was significantly associated with a higher possibility of being healthy for older adults. In addition, social capital plays a mediating role in the relationship between Internet use and self‐rated health among the older adults. Conclusions This study shows that Internet use was positively related to self‐rated health for the older adults. In addition, this study finds that social capital mediates the relationship between Internet use and self‐rated health among the older adults. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2021; 21: 34–38 .