Impacts of Internet Use on Senior Citizens’ Depressive Symptoms in China: Urban-Rural Differences (Preprint)

BACKGROUND Although existing studies report that Internet use can help senior citizens coping with depressive symptoms, so far limited studies have explored the impacts of Internet use on urban and rural senior citizens’ depression symptoms. OBJECTIVE This study aims to address the above gap and explore the impacts of Internet use on urban and rural senior citizens’ depressive symptoms in China. METHODS We use the data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS). We use the panel-data regression to examine the relationship between Internet use and depression. In order to obtain robust evidence, we built a treatment group by selecting senior citizens who did not use the Internet in 2013 (Wave 2) but did use it in 2015 (Wave 4), and a control group by selecting senior citizens who did not use the Internet in either Wave based on the propensity score matching (PSM) approach. We then examined the impacts of Internet use with linear regression analysis based on the difference-in-difference (DID) approach. RESULTS The empirical results indicate that Internet use could significantly alleviate rural senior citizens’ depression (β=-2.187, P=.006). The Frequency of Online have consistent effect on depression (β= -1.091, P=.001). In addition, the impacts of Internet use on rural senior citizens’ three specific depressive symptoms are significant (“I had trouble keeping my mind on what I was doing”, β= -0.537, P=.008; “I felt depressed”, β= -0.315, P=.014; “I felt everything I did was an effort”, β= -0.355, P=.021). The propensity score matching and difference-in-difference analysis is consistent with the results of panel date regression analysis. CONCLUSIONS Urban-rural differences exist in the impacts of Internet use on senior citizens’ depressive symptoms. Rural senior citizens’ depressive symptoms can be alleviated by Internet use and the frequency of Internet use. Policy makers should provide rural senior citizens more opportunities to access the Internet and more Internet-skill trainings to enable them to better utilize the Internet.