eHealth use and psychological health improvement among older adults: The sequential mediating roles of social support and self-esteem (Preprint)

As the trend of population aging increases in many countries around the world, the mental health of the elderly has become an increasing concern. Psychological health is widely recognized as a crucial factor in enhancing older adults' quality of life. Concurrently, Internet use among older adults has risen in recent years, and the impact of these technologies may have a significant influence on the psychological health of older adults. China is one of the countries with a typical aging trend. The current study aims to reveal the mechanism of how eHealth use influences older adults’ psychological health in China. Furthermore, this study aims to examine the roles of social support and self-esteem in the relationship between eHealth use and psychological health based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework and Social Cognitive Theory (SCT). The empirical data for this study were drawn from all 31 provinces of China. The study targeted adults aged 18 and above who resided in China. Mediation and moderation analyses were conducted to test the hypotheses proposed in this study. From the total sample of 7,019 participants, 898 older adults aged 60 and above were selected for the analysis. The findings reveal that eHealth use is positively associated with psychological health through the serial mediation of social support and self-esteem. Additionally, the study also identified eHealth can increase both perceived family and friends support among older adults, and both family and friends support can increase older adults’ self-esteem. To promote better psychological health among older adults, it is essential for them to access eHealth tools. eHealth use can improve older adults’ psychological health by increasing their perceived family and friends’ support, which can then facilitate their self-esteem and eventually enhance their psychological health.