ArticleFrontiers in public health2023
Internet use and depression among Chinese older adults: The mediating effect of interpersonal relationship.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 37 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
37 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association between digital smart device use and depression among older adults: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- The Effect of Internet Use on Older Adults' Executive Function: The Chain Mediation Effect of Social Participation and Loneliness.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Social and digital engagement associated with reduced depressive symptoms in adults aged 50 and older: a multi-country cohort study.BMC medicine · 2026Observational
- The impact of digital social integration on life satisfaction among Chinese older adults: does employment status matter?BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Intelligent living environments and older adults' health outcomes: roles of social support and self-efficacy.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Mobile internet use, physical exercise and depression levels: mediating mechanism and empirical evidence.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Longitudinal trajectories of internet use, attitudes toward aging, and depression: a latent growth mediation model.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Urban-rural disparities in education's mediating role between digital engagement and depression among Chinese older adults.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Relationship between digital health literacy and self-assessment of health among older adults in Xuzhou City: based on the mediating effect of health self-management.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The impact of Internet usage on cognitive impairment among Chinese older people: a social participation perspective.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Biopsychosocial determinants of anxiety and depression among working mothers in China: A public mental health perspective.Narra J · 2025Article
- Relationships Among Mobile Internet Use, Social Support, and Depressive Symptoms: Prospective Cohort Study Among Community Residents.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Internet Usage, Social Participation, and Depression Symptoms Among Middle-Aged and Older Adult Chinese Individuals Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Effect of patterns of social activities on depressive symptoms among older adults in china: a latent class analysis of CHARLS.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Role of Square Dancing in Psychological Capital: Evidence from a Large Cross-Sequential Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Impact of Internet Usage on Depression Among Older Adults: Comprehensive Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- The Association Between Posting WeChat Moments and the Risk of Depressive Symptoms Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults: Prospective National Cohort Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- The mediating role of life satisfaction in the relationship between physical exercise and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and elderly individuals.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Digital literacy and its effects on older adults' health: exploring mechanisms and outcomes.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- The association between digital technology use and depression among older people in China: a moderated mediation model.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The number of elderly Internet users has increased significantly in the past few years, and the Internet has greatly changed the way that older adults access information and communicate. Generally, those who regularly use the Internet may expand their range of interpersonal interactions, which has positive effects on their health. Depression is the leading cause of ill health, and is closely related to people's mental health. We sought to investigate whether internet use help reduce depression level among older adults. Using data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), a total of 4,714 respondents were included to explore the effects of Internet use on the elderly's depression levels in China, along with the mediating role of interpersonal relationship in the above relationship. Regression results indicated that Internet use significantly reduced depression levels among the elderly. Further analysis showed that different Internet usage had different effects on depression among the elderly. Wechat chatting, video browsing, and online shopping were positively correlated with lower levels of depression. However, playing online games and online learning did not predict reduced levels of depression. Moreover, interpersonal relationship mediated the relationship between Internet use and depression levels. Internet use was associated with a higher level of interpersonal relationship, which in turn reduced depression levels in older adults. Regarding gender and regional differences, the coefficient of Internet use for urban older adults was significantly negative at 0.001 level, while it was not significant for rural older adults. A mediating effect of interpersonal relationship between Internet use and depression levels was only found for male elderly. To reduce the level of depression and promote mental health in the course of aging, Internet use and the improvement of interpersonal relationships merit special attention.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.