Types of Internet Use and Mental Health Among Older Adults in China

Types of Internet Use and Mental Health Among Older Adults in China | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Types of Internet Use and Mental Health Among Older Adults in China XIA LI, Jamir Singh Paramjit Singh This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8400790/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract As internet use becomes embedded in later-life routines in China, older adults engage online in markedly different ways, which may carry unequal implications for mental health. This study investigates how heterogeneous internet use patterns influence depressive symptoms among older adults in China, and whether age moderates these associations.Methods: Data were drawn from the 2023 wave of the Chinese Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (N = 5,497). Latent class analysis was applied to classify internet use by both content and frequency, and regression models were employed to examine associations between user types and depression, with age included as a moderator and demographic covariates controlled.Results: Four distinct classes were identified: high-frequency social interaction (40.8%), information-oriented (21.0%), social–entertainment–consumption (22.7%), and comprehensive high-frequency use (15.4%). Compared with comprehensive users, the information-oriented and high-frequency social groups reported significantly higher depression scores, while the social–entertainment–consumption group showed moderate disadvantage. Age moderated these relationships: differences in depression across user types were strongest among the younger-old but diminished among the oldest-old. Findings extend social participation and compensation theories in the digital context and suggest that policies should move beyond access provision to foster diversified, meaningful online engagement that safeguards mental health in later life. Older adults Internet use Depression Latent class model Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8400790","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":568581543,"identity":"93c2c7c2-4cc8-4f14-bc03-0e40b0374cc7","order_by":0,"name":"XIA LI","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Sains Malaysia","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"XIA","middleName":"","lastName":"LI","suffix":""},{"id":568581546,"identity":"4123c145-449c-47e3-92f4-4199d969cc10","order_by":1,"name":"Jamir Singh Paramjit Singh","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAqUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYNACHgkGfpK1SEg2kGqPhMEBYpWas599+OmGjEWd8Y30pxsYcw4T1mLZk24snQN0mNmNHLMbjNuI0GJwII0BpoWNSC3nnzH/BmkxnpH+jEgtN9LYwLYYSCQQ6TDLGc/YrIFaJGeceWN2I3FbOmEt5vxpzLdze+r4+duBDvu4zZoIh4EIxh4oL4GhmUgtDD/g/DrCWkbBKBgFo2DEAQCHOjara0qGTAAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Universiti Sains Malaysia","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jamir","middleName":"Singh Paramjit","lastName":"Singh","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-12-19 05:08:28","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8400790/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8400790/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":99494637,"identity":"73ba09fc-6ab4-4c7b-9a6b-74dc4bc947ae","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-01-05 06:06:54","extension":"json","order_by":0,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"acdc-reference","size":4262,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"943bf3da88c74d828c1538a471009c35.json","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8400790/v1/16e1cfa395800d82cae3859b.json"},{"id":103405445,"identity":"b2792bed-63fd-44e2-92a4-0e002941baf8","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-02-25 09:58:13","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":258474,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"TypesofInternetUseandMentalHealth.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-8400790/v1_covered_4523f213-98e1-4f30-8673-b45b95f830ad.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Types of Internet Use and Mental Health Among Older Adults in China","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Older adults, Internet use, Depression, Latent class model","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8400790/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-8400790/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"As internet use becomes embedded in later-life routines in China, older adults engage online in markedly different ways, which may carry unequal implications for mental health. 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