Longitudinal Dyadic Associations Between Internet Use and Mental Health Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Couples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Approach.

Objectives Internet use is usually considered to have beneficial effects on depressive symptoms. However, researchers rarely examine whether individual internet use might affect his/her spouse's depressive symptoms. The present study aimed to explore the longitudinal dyadic interdependence of the as...

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Publicado en:Journals of Gerontology Series B: Psychological Sciences & Social Sciences Vol. 80; no. 7; pp. 1 - 11
Autores principales: Li, Zhibin, Liu, Huijun
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Oxford University Press / USA Jul2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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        atl: Longitudinal Dyadic Associations Between Internet Use and Mental Health Among Middle-Aged and Older Chinese Couples: An Actor–Partner Interdependence Approach.
      aug:
        au:
          Li, Zhibin
          Liu, Huijun
        affil: School of Public Policy and Administration, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China
      su:
        Mental health
        Spouses
        Sex distribution
        Internet
        Age distribution
        Interpersonal relations
        Mental depression
        Middle age
        Old age
        Cronbach's alpha
        Research funding
        Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale
        Chi-squared test
        Structural equation modeling
        Longitudinal method
        Statistics
        Data analysis software
      sug:
        subj:
          Mental health
          Spouses
          Sex distribution
          Internet
          Age distribution
          Interpersonal relations
          Mental depression
          Middle age
          Old age
          Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals
          Wired Telecommunications Carriers
          Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians)
          Cronbach's alpha
          Research funding
          Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale
          Chi-squared test
          Structural equation modeling
          Longitudinal method
          Statistics
          Data analysis software
      keyword:
        Actor effect
        Dyadic analysis
        Longitudinal study
        Partner effect
        Actor effect
        Dyadic analysis
        Longitudinal study
        Partner effect
      ab: Objectives Internet use is usually considered to have beneficial effects on depressive symptoms. However, researchers rarely examine whether individual internet use might affect his/her spouse's depressive symptoms. The present study aimed to explore the longitudinal dyadic interdependence of the association between internet use and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older couples. Methods Data for this study came from the 2018 and 2020 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), and the sample consisted of 6,096 middle-aged and older couples (age ≥45). We tested the actor effects and partner effects of internet use on depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older couples by adopting the longitudinal Actor–Partner Interdependence Model (APIM). Further, the heterogeneity of actor effects and partner effects based on gender, age, and residence was also tested. Results APIM indicated that both husbands' and wives' internet use had significant actor effects on their depressive symptoms. However, the partner effect was observed only in wives; that is, husbands' internet use was positively associated with their wives' lower depressive symptoms, not vice versa. Furthermore, subgroup analyses showed these effects were not significantly heterogeneous in age and rural–urban subgroups. Discussion This study sheds light on the dyadic and longitudinal associations between internet use and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older couples in China, thereby providing valuable insights for designing interventions that protect mental health by encouraging couples to use the internet.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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