互联网使用情况对我国城乡老年人健康生活方式的影响

Effect of Internet Use on Health Lifestyles of Chinese Older Adults in Urban and Rural Areas

目的:分析互联网使用情况对我国城乡老年人健康生活方式的影响,为引导老年人形成健康的生活方式提供参考。方法:使用中国家庭追踪调查2018年和2020年个体面板数据,采用固定效应模型分析3812名老年人的互联网使用情况对其健康生活方式的影响,并比较城乡差异,通过一系列敏感性分析评估研究结果的稳健性。结果:基于面板数据的固定效应模型结果表明,从2018年到2020年,互联网使用对城市老年人健康生活方式的改善作用显著(β=0.09,P=0.01);互联网使用重要性评价对全体老年人(β=0.07,P=0.03)和城市老年人(β=0.10,P<0.01)的生活方式均有显著改善作用;相对于农村老年人,互联网使用情况对城市老年人健康生活方式的影响更为显著。结论:老年人互联网使用情况对其健康生活方式存在影响,对互联网使用重要性评价更高的老年人倾向于采取更健康的生活方式,应注重引导老年人通过互联网获取信息,并重点关注农村老年人的互联网使用及健康情况,使更多老年人共享信息化发展成果。

Objective:To analyze the effect of Internet use on health lifestyles of Chinese older adults in urban and rural areas,so as to provide references for guidance of health lifestyles among older adults.Methods:Using the nationally representative data from the China family panel studies in 2018 and its follow-up in 2020,3812 participants were analyzed in the study.The fixed effects model for panel data was performed to examine the effects of Internet use on health lifestyles.The heterogeneity of urban and rural areas was analyzed and several robustness checks were also conducted in the analysis.Results:The results of the fixed effects model based on panel data suggested that Internet use played an improving role in the lifestyles of urban older adults(β=0.09,P=0.01).The importance evaluation of Internet use had a positive impact on the lifestyles of older adults(β=0.07,P=0.03)as well as urban older adults(β=0.10,P<0.01)from 2018 to 2020.Compared to rural older adults,Internet use had a more significant effect on health lifestyles among urban older adults.Conclusion:The findings show that older adults'Internet use has a significant effect on their health lifestyles and older adults who obtain information from the Internet with higher importance evaluation tend to adopt healthier lifestyles.Therefore,it is recommended to focus on guiding the elderly to obtain information from Internet and pay more attention on the Internet use and public health of older adults living in rural areas so that more older adults can share the fruits of informatization development.