Open AccessThe Contribution of the Internet to Reducing Social Isolation in Individuals Aged 50 Years and Older: Quantitative Study of Data From the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe
Author(s) -
Patrícia Maria Teixeira Silva,
Alice Delerue Matos,
Roberto Martínez-Pecino
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
jmir. journal of medical internet research/journal of medical internet research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.446
H-Index - 142
eISSN - 1439-4456
pISSN - 1438-8871
DOI - 10.2196/20466
Subject(s) - social isolation , the internet , logistic regression , european social survey , gerontology , quality of life (healthcare) , isolation (microbiology) , demography , psychology , environmental health , medicine , sociology , political science , microbiology and biotechnology , politics , world wide web , computer science , law , psychotherapist , biology
Background Social isolation has a negative impact on the quality of life of older people; therefore, studies have focused on identifying its sociodemographic, economic, and health determinants. In view of the growing importance of the internet as a means of communication, it is essential to assess whether internet use interferes with social isolation. Objective This study specifically aims to clarify the relationship between internet use and social isolation of individuals aged ≥50 years, for which other surveys present contradictory results. Methods We performed logistic regression analysis with social isolation as the dependent variable, internet use as the interest variable, and several other sociodemographic, economic, and health characteristics of the individuals as control variables. The sample size was 67,173 individuals aged 50 years and older from 17 European countries (Portugal, Greece, Italy, Spain, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia, and Croatia) plus Israel, who were interviewed in the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE), wave 6. Results The results show that countries differ in the level of social isolation and rate of internet use by individuals aged 50 years and older. They also evidence that in most of the countries analyzed, social isolation of internet users was lower compared to that of nonusers after controlling for a set of sociodemographic, economic, and health characteristics of the individuals that have been previously described in the literature as determinants of social isolation. Indeed, on average, although 31.4% of individuals in the nonuser group experienced high social isolation, only 12.9% of individuals who used the internet experienced this condition. Conclusions Internet users show lower social isolation. This result underlines the importance of promoting e-inclusion in Europe as a way to counter social isolation of individuals aged 50 years and older.