老年人孤独感与互联网使用和躯体健康的关系

Relationship between loneliness and internet use,physical health in the elderly

目的:探究老年人互联网使用情况与孤独感的关联及躯体健康在其中的调节作用。方法:利用2018年中国老年社会追踪调查数据,选取其中8 260名老年人,采用孤独感短版量表(UCLA-3)测量孤独感、互联网使用情况测量是否使用互联网和用途(潜在类别分析将老年人互联网使用分为多功能均使用组、信息获取组和沟通交流组)、日常生活自理能力和慢性病状况测量躯体健康状况。结果:多元线性回归分析发现,使用互联网的老年人UCLA-3得分低于未使用互联网的老年人(β=-0.08);多功能均使用组的UCLA-3得分低于信息获取组和沟通交流组(β=0.06、0.12)。两因素方差分析发现躯体健康在是否使用互联网和互联网功能使用方式与孤独感的关联中起调节作用(均P<0.05)。结论:互联网使用有助于老人缓解孤独感,多种互联网功能的使用对降低孤独感具有累积效果,但互联网使用和老人孤独感的关系可能因身体健康状况不同而存在一定的差异。

Objective:To explorethe relationship between internet use and loneliness among the elderly,as well as the moderating role of physical health.Methods:Data from the 2018 China Longitudinal Aging Social Sur-vey(CLASS2018)were analyzed,including 8260 older adults.Loneliness was measured withthe UCLA Loneliness Scale-3-item short version(UCLA-3),Internet use was measured with whether or not participants used the internet and for what purposes(Latent class analysis identified three types of internet users,namely multi-functional use group,communication group,and information acquisition group),and physical health was assessed with activities of daily living and chronic disease status.Results:Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the elderly who used the internet had significantly lower scores on the loneliness scale than those who did not use the internet(β=-0.08).Multi-functional use group had significantly lower loneliness scores than information acquisition group and communication group(β=0.06,0.12).Two-way ANOVA found that physical health moderated the association be-tween internet use,internet use type,and loneliness(Ps<0.05).Conclusion:Internet use helps the elderly to allevi-ate loneliness,and the use of multiple Internet functions has a cumulative effect on reducing loneliness.However,the relationship between internet use and loneliness among the elderly may vary depending on their physical health status.