Kung, Claryn SJ;
Steptoe, Andrew;
(2022)
Internet use and psychological wellbeing among older adults in England: a difference-in-differences analysis over the COVID-19 pandemic.
Psychological Medicine
pp. 1-3.
10.1017/S0033291722003208.
(In press).
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Longitudinal evidence on how Internet use affects the psychological wellbeing of older adults has been mixed. As policymakers invest in efforts to reduce the digital divide, it is important to have robust evidence on whether encouraging Internet use among older adults is beneficial, or potentially detrimental, to their wellbeing. METHODS: We observe depressive symptoms and loneliness of adults aged 50 + in the nationally representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, from before (2018/19) to during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic (June/July and November/December 2020). Our quasi-experimental difference-in-differences strategy compares within-individual wellbeing changes between older adults who desired to use the Internet more but experienced barriers including lack of skills, access, and equipment, with regular Internet users who did not desire to use the Internet more. To reduce selection bias, we match both groups on demographic and socioeconomic characteristics that are predictive of Internet use. We assume that in the absence of COVID-19 - a period of increased reliance on the Internet - the wellbeing trajectories of both groups would have followed a common trend. RESULTS: Compared with matched controls (N = 2983), participants reporting barriers to Internet use (N = 802) experienced a greater increase in the likelihood of depressive symptoms from before to during the pandemic, but not worse loneliness levels. This effect was stronger for women, those aged above 65 years, and those from lower-income households. CONCLUSIONS: Besides enabling access to digital services, efforts to ensure older adults continue to be engaged members of an increasingly digital society could deliver returns in terms of a buffer against psychological distress.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Internet use and psychological wellbeing among older adults in England: a difference-in-differences analysis over the COVID-19 pandemic |
| Location: | England |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1017/S0033291722003208 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291722003208 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © The Author(s) 2022. Published by Cambridge. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
| Keywords: | Barriers to Internet use, English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, depression, digital divide, loneliness, quasi-experimental study |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Epidemiology and Public Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Behavioural Science and Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10157616 |
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