Which Ties Matter? Differential Effects of Family, Peer, and Community Support on Short-Video Engagement Among Older Adults.

Short-form video (SFV) platforms have become a central part of older adults' digital lives, yet their psychological implications remain theoretically contested. Drawing on social empowerment theory, Self-Determination Theory, attachment theory, and the displacement hypothesis, this study examined whether different sources of social support-family, peer, and community-exert differential effects on life satisfaction through SFV engagement and social connectedness. Survey data were collected from 385 community-dwelling Chinese older adults (mean age = 70.6 years) and analyzed using bootstrapped serial mediation models with 5000 resamples. The results revealed clear source differentiation, as family support most strongly predicted SFV engagement and showed the largest total association with life satisfaction, consistent with a social empowerment mechanism. Community participation showed a weaker but still positive association with engagement, whereas peer support was unrelated to engagement. Across pathways, higher SFV engagement was associated with lower social connectedness, while greater social connectedness was associated with higher life satisfaction. However, none of the chained indirect effects reached significance, suggesting that social support influenced life satisfaction primarily through direct rather than serially mediated pathways. These findings demonstrate the importance of disaggregating social support by source and contribute to a more precise framework for understanding older adults' digital well-being.