Relationships between digital engagement and the mental health of older adults: Evidence from China

Based on the theory of socio-emotional selectivity, this study examines the effect of digital engagement on the mental health of older individuals using data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey (CLASS). The results show that digital engagement has a significant effect on the mental health of older individuals, manifested by a decline in depression and an enhancement of cognitive abilities. The results are robust by Using instrumental variables to solve endogenous problem and the propensity score matching method to solve selective bias. The analysis of heterogeneity demonstrates that digital engagement can significantly reduce the depression level of older people without chronic diseases and at lower ages and promote the cognitive ability of older adults without chronic diseases and older adults of higher ages. Mechanistic analysis shows that digital engagement can reduce depression in older adults by alleviating loneliness and improving emotional well-being and cognitive performance by enhancing social support. Therefore, digital engagement gives older people a more positive emotional experience and more social support and thereby improves mental health, delivering proactive answers to the problems an aging population brings.