AUTHOR=Zhu Huoyun , Li Zhaoqi , Lin Wenyi 

TITLE=The Heterogeneous Impact of Internet Use on Older People’s Mental Health: An Instrumental Variable Quantile Regression Analysis

JOURNAL=International Journal of Public Health

VOLUME=68

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.ssph-journal.org/journals/international-journal-of-public-health/articles/10.3389/ijph.2023.1605664

DOI=10.3389/ijph.2023.1605664

ISSN=1661-8564

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Objectives:</bold> Whether Internet use improves older people’s health is an open question. This study empirically investigated the impact of Internet use on older people’s mental health with a focus on the heterogeneity among subgroups.</p><p><bold>Method:</bold> Data come from the 2018 China Health Retirement Longitudinal Study (<italic>n</italic> = 8,505). An instrumental variable quantile regression method (IVQR) combines the instrumental variable and quantile regression to resolve the endogeneity and heterogeneity generally challenged in ordinary least squares (OLS).</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Although Internet use generally improves older people’s mental health, there is enormous heterogeneity in the effects on older adults with different mental health conditions. Specifically, Internet use only has a mitigating impact on older adults with poor mental health. Those heterogeneities are also found between rural and urban residents but not between genders.</p><p><bold>Conclusion:</bold> Our findings shed light on active and healthy aging strategies. Two policy priorities include, on the one hand, the Internet user environment should be improved in parallel with Internet technology; on the other hand, multiple measurements are urgent to be developed to deal with the heterogeneity and unevenness of the impact of Internet technology on older people.</p>