ArticleFrontiers in public health2026
Digital and offline social participation configurations and depressive symptoms and life satisfaction among older adults in China.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Background: Social participation is a key determinant of mental well-being in later life, yet population based research tends to focus on overall activity rather than on how participation is configured. In digitalized societies, unequal access to digital technologies shapes how older adults combine online and offline participation, with important but poorly understood implications for mental health. Methods: Using data from 8,427 adults aged 60 years and older in China, this study applied latent class analysis to identify patterns of digital and offline social participation based on eight indicators. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine sociodemographic and health correlates of class membership. Multiple linear regression and covariate adjusted means were used to assess associations between participation patterns, depressive symptoms, and life satisfaction. Results: Four participation classes were identified: Digital active, Offline active, Digital-offline active, and Low participation. Participation configurations were strongly stratified by age, education, residence, and health status. After adjusting for covariates, older adults in the Digital active and Digital-offline active classes reported significantly lower depressive symptoms and higher life satisfaction than those in the Offline active class, while individuals in the Low participation class showed intermediate mental health outcomes. Conclusion: Mental well-being in later life depends not only on whether older adults are socially active but on how digital and offline participation are configured. In a digitally transforming society, digital engagement appears to function as a socially structured psychosocial resource, contributing to inequalities in mental well-being across later life.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.