The Impact of active social media use on the mental health of the older adults (Preprint)

BACKGROUND With the rising population age and the development of information technology in China, a growing number of older adults use social media as a means of social participation. The impact of posting on WeChat Moments on the mental health of older adults is worthy of attention. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study is to identify posting on WeChat Moments as an active social media use and analyze its impact on the mental health of older adults. METHODS Using the survey data from the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, we defined posting on WeChat Moments as an active social media use and used propensity score matching to analyze the impact of such posting on the mental health of older adults. RESULTS The results of the study showed that posting significantly improved the depression, self-rated health, and health satisfaction of older adults, implying that older adults who used WeChat and posted on WeChat Moments benefited from the active social media use. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the female older-adult population and the younger older-adult population derived the most mental health benefit from posting on WeChat Moments. CONCLUSIONS The government should help older adults actively integrate into digital life at the policy level and guide them to use social media rationally and scientifically.