Migration Status, Internet Use, and Social Participation among Middle-Aged and Older Adults in China: Consequences for Depression.

Qian Liu,Yuanyuan Wu,Haimin Pan

doi:10.3390/ijerph17166007

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the underlying relationship between migration status and depressive symptoms among middle-aged and older adults in China. Data were derived from three waves of panel data (2011, 2013, and 2015) from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study. Two-level regression models and generalized structural equation modeling were run to fit the data. The results showed that migration status of the respondents could ameliorate their depression ( = −0.02, p < 0.01), so did internet use ( = −0.02, p < 0.001), and social participation ( = −0.06, p < 0.001). The indirect effects of migration status on depression through internet use and of internet use on depression through social participation existed. The effects of migration status, internet use, and social participation in decreasing depression were discussed. Provided the associations among migration status, internet use, social participation, and depression, attention should be paid on increasing protective aspects of migration among middle-aged and older adults, such as internet use and social participation, to enhance their mental health.

Highlights

Along with the development of urbanization is a growing amount of internal migrant population in mainland China
Owing to the fact that Generalized structural equation modeling (GSEM) procedure did not produce goodness-of-fit indices, we only reported Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) and Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) values of the corresponding models [45,47]
Middle-aged and older adults who were younger, male, married, higher education, non-retired, and having non-agricultural Hukou tended to be less depressive than their counterparts

Summary

Introduction

Urbanization somewhat contributes to inequalities in physical and socio-economic conditions among different places, and some people move to the places with more resources and better public service for a prospective life. This spatial redistribution is characterized by prominent urban-orientation [1], in addition to other forms of internal migration in small proportion (e.g., city-to-city, rural-to rural). Those who live in a place but have no local Hukou would be preferably called “floating population” [2].

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion