Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Apr 24;13(1):434.
doi: 10.1186/s40359-025-02642-y.

The impact of active social media use on the mental health of older adults

Ning Wei  1 , Dingqiang Sun  2 , Jian Li  3   4
Affiliations

The impact of active social media use on the mental health of older adults

Ning Wei et al. BMC Psychol. .

Abstract

Background: With the rising population age and the development of information technology in China, a growing number of older adults use social media as a means of social participation. The impact of posting on WeChat Moments on the mental health of older adults is worthy of attention.

Aim: The aim of this study is to identify posting on WeChat Moments as an active social media use and analyze its impact on the mental health of older adults.

Method: Using the survey data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), we defined posting on WeChat Moments as an active social media use and used propensity score matching (PSM) to analyze the impact of such posting on the mental health of older adults.

Results: The results of the study showed that posting statistically significantly improved the depression, self-rated health, and health satisfaction of older adults. Heterogeneity analysis showed that the female older-adult population and the younger older-adult population derived the most mental health benefit from posting on WeChat Moments.

Conclusion: Posting on WeChat Moments statistically significantly improved the depression, self-rated health, and health satisfaction of older adults. Older adults who use WeChat and post on WeChat Moments derive much benefit from their active social media use.

Keywords: Active social media use; Mental health; Older adults; WeChat; WeChat moments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical statement: This is a secondary analysis using the CHARLS data, and the original survey was approved by the Biomedical Ethics Review Committee of Peking University (IRB00001052–11015). All participants signed written informed consent forms before the survey. They knew their data were for academic research and could withdraw at any time. The publicly available data have undergone strict anonymization. Personal identity - identifying information (such as names, ID numbers, detailed addresses, etc.) has been removed, and only de - identified research variables are retained. This study strictly complies with the CHARLS data use terms. All analyses are for scientific purposes. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. National Bureau of Statistics. Communiqué of the seventh National Population Census. 2021. Available online: http://www.stats.gov.cn/english/PressRelease/202105/t20210510_1817190.html
    1. Tencent Research Institute. Territory of elders: A report on the use of WeChat in family and life of older people. Zhejiang Publishing Group Digital Media Co., Ltd.; 2018.
    1. Utz RL, Deborah C, Randolph N, Wortman CB. The effect of widowhood on older adults’ social participation: an evaluation of activity, disengagement, and continuity theories. Gerontologist. 2002,(4):522–33. - PubMed
    1. Perez FP, Perez CA, Chumbiauca MN. Insights into the social determinants of health in older adults. J Biomed Sci Eng. 2022;15(11):261. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Baeriswyl M, Oris M. Social participation and life satisfaction among older adults: diversity of practices and social inequality in Switzerland. Volume 43. Ageing & Society; 2023. pp. 1259–83. 6.

LinkOut - more resources