Internet Use as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Personal Resources and Stress in Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Background: Internet use has dramatically increased worldwide, with over two-thirds of the world's population using it, including the elderly population. Technical resources, such as internet use, has been shown to influence psychological variables, such as stress. Furthermore, according to Hobfoll's COR theory, stress perception largely depends on individual's personal resources and their changes. While personal resources loss and stress are negatively associated, we ignore the role that technical resources plays on the relationship between personal resources and stress.Objective: This study aims at investigating the moderating role of technical resources (internet use) on the relationship between personal resources and stress, in young and older adults.Methods: A total of 275 young adults (18 to 30 years) and 224 older adults (65 years or older) indicated their levels of stress, change in personal resources (i.e., cognitive, social, and self-efficacy resources loss and gain), and internet use. Variance analyses, multiple regression, and moderation analyses were performed to investigate the correlates of stress.Results: Results showed that older adults, despite experiencing high levels of resource loss and less resource gain, were less stressed than younger adults. We observed that the relationship between resource loss, resource gain, and stress in older adults was moderated by their level of internet use. Specifically, older adults who used internet more frequently were less stressed when they experienced both high levels of loss and gain, compared to their counterparts who used less internet in the same conditions. Furthermore, older adults with low resource gain and high resource loss expressed less stress when they used more internet compared to those who had low internet use.Conclusions: These findings highlight the importance of internet use in mitigating stress among older adults experiencing resource loss and gain, emphasizing the potential of digital interventions to promote mental health in this population.