The Effects of Mobile Social Media Use on Older Migrants’ Social Integration and Life Satisfaction: Use Types and Self-Esteem Perspective

Abstract

With the development of society and economy, more and more elderly people migrate from rural to urban areas. Nowadays, mobile social media (MSM) is a very important tool for information search, social communication, and entertainment among older migrants, and it is necessary to clear how the self-esteem level and the use types of MSM contribute to older migrants’ social integration and life satisfaction. Based on the literature review, we constructed a research model and tested the model using sample data of 306 Chinese older migrants. The results show that self-esteem has a negative impact on the social use and entertainment use of MSM. Our study also confirms that social use and entertainment use have different effects on older migrants’ social integration and life satisfaction. Social use has a positive impact on social integration and life satisfaction, while entertainment use has a negative impact on social integration and has no significant impact on life satisfaction. Furthermore, the perceived social integration of older adults can significantly predict their life satisfaction.