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Impacts of Internet on Openness to Change in China: Millennials Versus Pre‐Millennials
Author(s) -
Harmel Robert,
Yeh YaoYuan
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12687
Subject(s) - openness to experience , china , the internet , politics , psychology , internet users , older people , survey data collection , advertising , gerontology , demographic economics , social psychology , demography , political science , sociology , medicine , business , economics , statistics , mathematics , world wide web , computer science , law
Objective This article explores whether there are different consequences from Internet use—in the form of changed political attitudes—for older Chinese as compared to their younger counterparts. Methods Using data from a nationwide representative survey of Chinese adults, analyses include both cross‐tabulation and multiple regression. Results It is found that millennials are more open to political change than are older Chinese, that older Internet users—as compared to older nonusers—have attitudes more similar to those of millennials, and that differences in attitudes are greater between older users and nonusers than between millennial users and nonusers. Conclusion The findings support the conclusion that Internet use has had greater consequences for changed political attitudes for older Chinese than for their younger counterparts.