The Impact of Digital Infrastructure on Mental Health and Inequality Among Older Adults: Evidence from Longitudinal Panel Data in China

The Impact of Digital Infrastructure on Mental Health and Inequality Among Older Adults: Evidence from Longitudinal Panel Data 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 The Impact of Digital Infrastructure on Mental Health and Inequality Among Older Adults: Evidence from Longitudinal Panel Data in China Meirui Zhong, Huiyu Qin, Yi Fu This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7933697/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 Rapid population aging and uneven digital development pose new challenges to social sustainability and health equity. This study investigates the impact of digital infrastructure on mental health and health inequality among older adults in China. Using panel data from 279 prefecture-level cities between 2013 and 2020, we apply fixed-effects and instrumental variable (IV) models to identify the causal effects of digital infrastructure development. The results indicate that improved digital infrastructure significantly reduces depressive symptoms (β = −9.31, p < 0.01) and decreases mental health inequality (β = −0.187, p < 0.01) among older adults. Mediation analyses reveal that bridging the digital divide, enhancing social participation, and improving self-rated health partially explain these effects. The impact is more pronounced among women, younger older adults, and rural populations. These findings highlight the importance of promoting equitable access to digital infrastructure as part of public health and sustainable development strategies to address structural determinants of health inequality in aging societies.. digital infrastructure mental health older adults health inequality digital divide social participation 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. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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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-7933697","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":536910467,"identity":"8ffe19de-76ee-4dcc-a0ba-a7e9307898bb","order_by":0,"name":"Meirui Zhong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Central South University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Meirui","middleName":"","lastName":"Zhong","suffix":""},{"id":536910468,"identity":"c4270093-ff0e-4b39-bd51-e7497bb96520","order_by":1,"name":"Huiyu Qin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Central South 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