ArticleBMC public health2023
The correlation analysis of WeChat usage and depression among the middle-aged and elderly in China: the mediating role of social participation.
Article in BMC public health, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of Tai Chi on depression of middle-aged and older adults: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2023Pooled it
- A Study on the Depressive Symptoms and Life Satisfaction Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China Based on CHARLS 2020 Data.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Association between social activity participation and rural-urban difference in depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults in China: a Fairlie decomposition analysis.BMC public health · 2026Article
- The association between internet use and health among rural-to-urban migrants in China: the mediating role of social integration.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Social media use and depression among middle-aged and older Chinese adults: mediating roles of health literacy and perceived social support.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Migration status and internet use: gender differences in mental health among rural older adults in China.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Equity of total health expenditure in China, 2015-2021.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Internet Usage, Social Participation, and Depression Symptoms Among Middle-Aged and Older Adult Chinese Individuals Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence From the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Observational Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Observational
- Eleven-Year Trajectories of Internet Usage Time and Depression Scores Among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: Latent Class Mixed Model Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Article
- Late-Life Informal Social Participation, Physical and Cognitive Functions Among the Chinese Elderly: A Life Course Perspective.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The Association Between Posting WeChat Moments and the Risk of Depressive Symptoms Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Adults: Prospective National Cohort Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2025Article
- The impact of grandchild caregiving on depression among grandparents: a scoping review.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Impact of social, familial and personal factors on depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults from the national CHARLS cohort.BMC public health · 2024Article
- The factors related to depressive symptoms in urban older adults in South Korea: a study based on the Seoul Aging Survey.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- The effect of internet use on depressive symptoms in middle-aged and older adults with functional disability: the mediating role of social isolation.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundWe aimed to explore the association between WeChat usage and depression in the Chinese middle-aged and elderly and the role of social participation.
methodsData were obtained from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) of 2018. The dependent variable was depressive symptoms, measured with the 10-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10). We used the propensity score matching (PSM) to match the WeChat users with the non-WeChat users. Correlations between WeChat usage and depressive symptoms were verified by using logistic regression and linear regression, and the mediating role of social participation was verified by using stepwise regression and KHB method.
resultsFour thousand five hundred forty-five samples were ultimately matched for analysis in this study. After including all control variables, results of logistic regression showed that WeChat usage was significantly associated with a lower prevalence of depression (aOR:0.701,95% CI: 0.605-0.812). And the results of linear regression showed that WeChat usage was associated with lower levels of depression which was significant (p < 0.001). The results of the stepwise regression and the KHB method showed a mediating role of social participation in WeChat usage and depressive symptoms. Among the four types of social participation, the mediating effect of recreational activities was significant, while the mediating effects of voluntary activities, cultural activities, and other activities were not significant. Meanwhile, the effect of WeChat usage on depression and the mediating effect of social participation were heterogeneous because of differences in age and gender.
conclusionSocial participation partly mediated the effect between WeChat usage and depression in middle-aged and older adults. Among the four types of social participation, only recreational activities had a mediating effect. Encouraging more active social participation and other types of social activities should be considered to improve the mental health of the middle-aged and older adults in China through social media usage.
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