Elderly Internet Use And Its Relationship With Loneliness,Life Satisfaction,and Subjective Well-Being

Objective: To investigate the internet use among the elderly in Wuhu City,Anhui Province,and to explore the relationship between the Internet use of the elderly and their emotional-social loneliness,subjective well-being and life satisfaction,and improve the quality of life of the elderly.Methods: From March 2020 to November 2020,30 elderly internet users over 60 years old were randomly selected from several communities in Wuhu City,Anhui Province for on-site interviews.Then 630 elderly people were interviewed with self-made general social demographic data,internet use questionnaire for the elderly,Emotional-social Loneliness Scale(ESLS),Memorial University of Newfoundland Happiness Scale(MUNSH)and Life Satisfaction Scale(SWLS).Results:(1)Of the 630 survey respondents,233(36.98%)use the Internet,among which75.54% used the Internet every day.Different age,education level,retirement condition,pre-retirement occupation,marital status,living style,monthly disposable expenses and health status had significant effects on the Internet use of the elderly(P<0.05).(2)The total score of ESLS was(24.69 ± 5.19),emotional loneliness score was(12.42±2.85),and social loneliness score was(12.27±3.04).Among them,different living styles,monthly expenses,marital status,physical exercise and health status were statistically significant in the overall level of loneliness(P<0.05).Different gender,education level,marital status,living style,monthly expenses and health status were statistically significant in the level of emotional loneliness(P<0.05).Different education levels,marital status,living style,monthly expenses,physical exercise and health status had statistical significance in the level of social loneliness(P<0.05).(3)The total score of subjective well-being scale(MUNSH)was(28.06±5.55),positive emotion(PA)score was(7.27±2.84),negative emotion(NA)score was(5.03±1.72),positive experience(PE)score was(9.08±3.50),negative experience(NE)score was(7.26±2.34),and the total score of life satisfaction scale(SWLS)was(23.60±5.78).Different education levels,living styles,monthly expenses,marital status,physical exercise and health status are statistically significant in the subjective well-being of the elderly(P<0.05);different education levels,retirement condition,monthly expenses,marital status,physical exercise and health status are statistically significant in the level of life satisfaction(P<0.05).(4)There were significant differences in positive experience(NE)score among the elderly with different Internet use frequency(F=2.738,P<0.05),but no significant differences in other scores(P>0.05);there were no significant differences in all dimensions and total scores of both loneliness and subjective well-being,and the total score of life satisfaction among the elderly with different Internet use duration(P>0.05).(5)Internet use was negatively correlated with emotional loneliness(r=-0.193,P<0.01),social loneliness(r=-0.207,P<0.01)and total score of Loneliness Scale(r =-0.193,P<0.01),positively correlated with PE(r=0.161,P<0.01)and MUNSH(r=0.169,P<0.01),and negatively correlated with Na(r =-0.123,P<0.01)and negative experience(NE)(r=-0.105,P<0.01).There was no significant correlation with positive emotion(PA)(r=-0.029,P>0.05),but significant positive correlation with life satisfaction scale(SWLS)(r=0.263,P<0.01).(6)Emotional loneliness and social loneliness played a complete mediating role between the Internet use and subjective well-being of the elderly,and their total contribution rate of mediation effect was 53.33%.The mediation effect contribution rates of social loneliness and emotional loneliness were 40.00% and 13.33% respectively.Social loneliness played a mediating role between the Internet use and life satisfaction of the elderly,and the mediation effect contribution rate was 22.13%.However,emotional loneliness didn’t play a mediating role between the Internet use and life satisfaction of the elderly.Conclusion: The number of elderly Internet users in this study was relatively high,and the Internet had become an important part in the lives of elderly Internet users.The emotional-social loneliness,subjective well-being,and life satisfaction of the elderly were all at a moderate level.Social loneliness was the main intermediary variable between the elderly Internet use and subjective well-being and life satisfaction.Internet use can reduce the level of emotional social loneliness,increase subjective well-being and life satisfaction of the elderly,but it is not that the higher the frequency and duration of Internet use,the better.Therefore,it is necessary to actively promote the use of the Internet and increase the utilization rate of the Internet by the elderly.However,the elderly should also rationally arrange the use of the Internet according to their actual conditions to improve their quality of life.