Educational Heterogeneity in the Relationship Between Internet Use and Episodic Memory Among Older Adults

Abstract

Objective

This study aims to examine educational heterogeneity in the relationship between internet use and episodic memory among older adults in China, within the context of advancing Chinese modernization.

Methods

Data from the 2018 and 2020 waves of China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were used for analysis. By employing a longitudinal study design with lagged predictors and the inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) approach alongside its extension—the marginal structural model (MSM) for sufficient cause interactions—this study mitigated potential reverse causality and self-selection biases related to internet use and educational attainment.

Results

The findings indicate a significant positive longitudinal association between internet use and delayed word recall in older women, incorporating delayed and immediate recall scores at baseline as covariates for predicting propensity scores of internet use. Additionally, the preservation of delayed word recall linked to internet use was more pronounced among older women with less than an elementary school education. Doubly robust estimation results further confirmed the reliability of the core findings. Furthermore, we investigated the longitudinal associations between specific online activities and episodic memory. The results show that posting on social media and engaging in online chatting positively correlated with episodic memory in older women, whereas browsing news online was positively associated with episodic memory in older men.

Conclusion

These findings support the cognitive enrichment hypothesis, which asserts that internet use serves as a mentally stimulating activity that may help delay cognitive aging, especially among individuals with limited cognitive stimuli.