The dark side of the association between internet use and older adults’ subjective wellbeing: the role of subjective social class

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The majority of studies exploring the relationship between internet use and subjective wellbeing among older adults tend to overlook the mediating mechanisms, particularly psychological ones. Additionally, while research has concluded that internet use is significantly associated with higher levels of subjective wellbeing, it remains unclear whether these associations might become insignificant or negative under certain conditions. To address these gaps, this study investigated the association between internet use and subjective wellbeing in older adults, with a focus on the mediating role of hope and the moderating role of subjective social class. METHOD: A sample of 1,045 older adults was selected from the Chinese General Social Survey. SPSS 24.0 and its PROCESS macros were utilized for data analyses. The bootstrapping method with 5,000 resamples was utilized to examine the mediating role of hope. Interaction terms were formulated to assess the moderating roles of subjective social class. RESULTS: The results revealed that older adults who used the internet were more likely to report higher levels of subjective wellbeing than those who did not. Hope served as a key psychological mechanism mediating this relationship. Additionally, subjective social class moderated the association between internet use and subjective wellbeing: the positive association was significant among older adults with higher subjective social class, whereas no significant association was observed among those with lower social class. Interestingly, subjective social class also moderated the relationship between hope and subjective wellbeing, albeit in the opposite direction. CONCLUSIONS: These findings contribute to our understanding of the psychological mechanisms underlying internet use and older adults' subjective wellbeing. Furthermore, they provide implications for considering the relative dark of internet use on subjective wellbeing for older adults with lower subjective social class.

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