Examining the health impact of elderly ICT use in China

ABSTRACT Information and communication technology (ICT) can play a prominent role in human development due to its significant health impact on elderly adults. Unlike previous research, which treats ICT use as a general concept, this study investigates two dimensions of ICT use (active and passive use), and it draws upon self-determination theory to explain the effects of ICT use on life satisfaction as well as health. Additionally, we explore the moderating effects of perceived isolation and ICT self-efficacy, on the relationship between ICT use and life satisfaction. We conducted a survey with 297 valid samples from elderly individuals in China to test our hypotheses. The results show that active ICT use can affect both life satisfaction and health status. We also found that, ICT self-efficacycan moderate the relationship between active/passive ICT use and life satisfaction. However, perceived isolation only moderates the relationship between passive ICT use and life satisfaction.