互联网使用对农村中老年人健康的影响

The Impact of Internet Use on the Health of Rural Mid-aged and Elderly Adults

随着农村人口老龄化和互联网使用日益普遍化,研究互联网使用如何影响农村中老年人的健康成为积极应对老龄化的重要议题。基于2022年农村中老年人数字素养专项调查数据,运用probit模型、工具变量法以及中介效应模型探讨互联网使用对农村中老年人健康的影响及其机制。实证结果显示:互联网使用总体上显著提高了农村中老年人的健康水平。同时,互联网使用通过影响健康行为、与子女关系融洽程度以及社会地位评价等渠道影响农村中老年人自评健康水平;通过提高社交活动概率、社交活动数量、可支配收入、与子女联系频率与频次以及社会地位评价等渠道影响农村中老年人生活满意度。此外,互联网使用对农村中老年人健康的影响存在一定的异质性。研究结论表明,要不断加强农村网络基础设施建设,强化对农村中老年人互联网使用的相关培训,建立和完善农村地区互联网使用“精准帮扶”政策,进而稳步提高农村中老年人的健康水平。

With the interwoven advance of the aging of rural population and the increasingly common use of the Internet,the study of how Internet use affects the health of rural mid-aged and elderly adults has become an important issue to actively cope with aging.Based on the data of a special survey on digital literacy of rural mid-aged and elderly adults in 2022,the probit model,instrumental variable method and mediating effect model were used to explore the impact of Internet use on the health of rural mid-aged and elderly adults and its mechanism.The empirical results showed that Internet use in general significantly improved the health of rural mid-aged and elderly adults.Meanwhile,Internet use affects self-rated health level of rural elderly people through influencing health behaviors,harmonious relationship with children and social status evaluation.The life satisfaction of the rural mid-aged and elderly adults is affected by increasing the probability of social activities,the number of social activities,monthly disposable income,the frequency of contacting with children,and social status evaluation.In addition,there is heterogeneity in the effects of Internet use on the health of rural mid-aged and elderly adults.The conclusion of the study shows that it is necessary to continuously strengthen the construction of rural network infrastructure,strengthen the relevant training of Internet use for the rural mid-aged and elderly adults,establish and improve the“targeted support”policy for Internet use in rural areas,and steadily improve the health level of the rural mid-aged and elderly adults.