ArticleBMC public health2025
The promotion mechanism of physical and mental health of the elderly in China: the impact of the digital divide and social capital.
Article in BMC public health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed.
- How Does Internet Use Affect Mental Health of Rural Residents? The Mediating Role of the Neighborhood Social Environment.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Differential associations of active and passive digital modalities with health perception biases among older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- A narrower access gap, yet persistent divides: the digital inequality among China's urban-rural older adults.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Psychological and social factors influencing AI painting tool adoption among young-old adults in the context of creative aging.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Beyond access: how heterogeneity of internet use differentially shapes cognitive function among Chinese older adults.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- The effect of social capital on infectious disease-specific health literacy among community residents: the chain mediating effect of family health and psychological capital.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Urban-rural disparities in education's mediating role between digital engagement and depression among Chinese older adults.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Digitization and Active Aging: How Digital Finance Shapes the Mental Health of Empty-Nest Older Individuals.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Dietary diversity and life satisfaction as mediators in the relationship between oral health and depression among older adults in china: a cross-sectional study.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- How Internet use relates to mental health in older adults: findings from the Czech Republic and the Republic of Slovenia.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Digital back-feeding and the mental health of rural older adults: mediation of basic psychological need satisfaction.Frontiers in psychology · 2025Article
- Algorithm-associated digital addiction among older adults: mechanisms and public health implications for healthy aging.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Digital Literacy and Self-Rated Health in China: Dual Pathways Through Information Accessibility and Mental Health.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2025Article
- How low-income adults in China perceive health and health management mobile applications.Digital healthArticle
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2 authors.
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Abstract
With the deep integration of population aging and digital transformation, the society has benefit from digital dividend, while also giving rise to the issue of the aging population's digital divide.This study is based on the three-level digital divide theory analysis framework, concentrating on the impact of the digital divide on elderly people's health during the Covid-19 pandemic in China, conducts multiple regression analysis, and uses the instrumental variable method and PSM propensity matching for robustness testing. Constructs a multiple mediation model of digital skill-social capital-elderly health, and applies Bootstrap-based structural equation model(SEM) to analyze and examine the influencing mechanism and pathway of digital skill on elderly people's physical and mental health. The research results indicate that: (1) From self-rated health, physical health, and mental health three aspects, digital skill significantly promotes elderly people's health, moreover, the elderly health is negatively impacted by the digital divide. (2) Among the elderly, their physical and psychological health are linked by a "cyclic cumulative causal effect". (3) The effect of digital skill on elderly people's health exists urban-rural difference. (4) A mediating effect of social capital in the connection between digital skill and elderly people's health. Digital skill enhances the state of elderly people's health by enriching relational and structural social capital, and aged adults' health is negatively impacted by a reduction in cognitive social capital. Therefore, in the future, it is necessary to fully leverage the health promotion function of digital skill, broaden senior citizens' social network, promote their social participation, bridge the senior citizens' digital divide, so then realize healthy aging and sustainable development.
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