Exploring the interplay between online engagement and offline social activities: a moderated mediation analysis of life satisfaction among the elderly

• Main Author: Ho, Chin Wei
• Other Authors: Wei Xing Toh
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2024
• Subjects: Social Sciences; ELSA; Life satisfaction; Elderly; Moderated mediation analysis; Variety of internet use; Internet use; Offline social participation; Social participation
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/181085
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

With older adults spending more time online, the social mechanisms of internet use and life satisfaction become more crucial to understand. While researchers have mostly examined time spent online as the key indicator of internet use, little studies have separately considered how the breadth of internet use – variety – augments social mechanisms of the elderly. This research addresses this gap by investigating how engagement variety moderates the relationships between internet use, life satisfaction, and offline social participation in older adults. Using moderated mediation analysis with data from 5,240 elder participants from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA), the study reveals that higher internet use correlates with increased offline social participation, which in turn operates as a mediating mechanism for internet use and life satisfaction. Moreover, it was found that the mediating effect of offline social participation is significantly moderated by variety of internet use. The indirect effect on life satisfaction from internet use through offline social participation was stronger when more variety of internet activities was engaged. This suggests that a broader spectrum of online activities amplifies the psychological well-being benefits gained from time spent on the internet, by increasing offline social participation. These effects highlight the Internet as a supportive means for fostering offline social connections. The study emphasizes the value of diverse internet use to strengthen positive effects on offline social participation and life satisfaction for older adults, contributing valuable insights to gerontological knowledge by elucidating complex mechanisms between internet use and life satisfaction.