The effect of social media engagement on social integration of elderly migrants in China: the mechanism of perceived social support and psychological resilience

Abstract

Surging numbers of older parents have migrated with adult children to developed urban areas under China’s internal family migration, experiencing several difficulties in social integration in local society. Social media has become an essential tool for older adults to gather information, socialize, and entertain. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between social media use and social integration among older migrants and the underlying psychological mechanisms. Drawing on the Media system dependency (MSD) theory and the Stress-buffering hypothesis, this study developed and tested a conceptual research model by conducting a cross-sectional online survey study (N = 1001). The results indicate that understanding and orientation, rather than entertainment, are two primary motivations for trailing parents to use social media. The activeness of social media engagement (exposure condition), rather than the intensity of social media use (selective exposure), can positively influence the social integration of older migrants. Psychological resilience cannot mediate the relationship between social media engagement and social integration, which is proved to be mainly achieved through perceived social support and the partial chain mediation of perceived social support and psychological resilience. These findings shed theoretical and practical light on the design of older migrant-friendly social media apps and the efforts of adult children and communities to enhance the social integration of older internal migrants through social media engagement.