数字鸿沟对农村老年人社会参与的影响

Impact of Digital Divide on Social Participation of Rural Older Adults

在数字时代与老龄化社会的双重背景下,数字鸿沟对农村老年人社会参与造成的影响亟待关注。基于2020年中国家庭追踪调查数据,运用层次回归和中介效应检验法实证研究数字鸿沟对农村老年人社会参与的影响及作用机制。研究发现:数字鸿沟对农村老年人社会参与有显著负向影响,其中使用沟与知识沟负向作用于农村老年人社会参与,接入沟则正向作用于农村老年人社会参与。数字鸿沟主要通过健康状况、文化资本和社会信任3个渠道影响农村老年人社会参与,且健康状况、文化资本和社会信任均正向作用于农村老年人社会参与。异质性分析发现,相较于女性,数字鸿沟对农村男性老年人社会参与的负向影响效果更大,但在政治参与方面则相反。研究结论可为提升农村老年人社会参与水平、积极应对人口老龄化危机提供参考意见。

In the dual context of the digital era and the aging society,the impact of the digital divide on the social participation of rural older adults requires urgent attention.Based on the data from the 2020 China Family Panel Studies,the article empirically investigates the impact of the digital divide on the social participation of rural older adults and its mechanism of action using regression analysis and mediation effect test.The study finds that the digital divide has a significant negative impact,and unlike the use and knowledge divides,the access divide has a positive impact on the social participation.The digital divide mainly affects rural older adults social participation through three channels:health status,cultural capital and social trust,and health status,cultural capital and social trust all positively affect rural older adults social participation.Heterogeneity analyses revealed that the digital divide has a greater negative effect on rural male older adults compared to women,but the opposite is true for political participation.The findings of the study can provide reference for enhancing the level of social participation of older adults in rural areas and actively responding to the crisis of population ageing.