The Impact of Internet Use on Health Outcomes of Rural Adults: Evidence from China

Abstract

Health, as basic human capital, is quite important for rural adults. However, in China, the average level of public health facilities and services is far lower in rural areas than in cities. In recent years, the internet has developed rapidly in China, and is increasingly affecting rural adults in a positive way. The purpose of this paper is to reveal whether internet use can be an effective way to improve the health of rural adults. This study used three rounds of data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) collected in 2014, 2016, and 2018. After eliminating samples due to attrition, the study included 7528 villagers who were at least 16 years old. A panel logit model was employed to conduct an empirical analysis. The results indicate that internet use has a significantly positive impact on health outcomes of rural adults. By using the internet, rural adults can find a large amount of health information, increase their social interaction, and maintain physical exercise to improve their health. Thus, it is important to promote internet use for health purposes in rural areas. In addition, internet use had heterogeneous effects on the health of rural adults of different genders, age groups, and education levels. Attention should be focused on highly educated older men to improve the effects of internet use.

The Relationship between Internet Use and Population Health: A Cross-Sectional Survey in China

“…In terms of education, There are significant differences between the effects that internet use has on the health of people with different education levels. The Internet has a positive association with the health of people with high education levels compared to those with low education levels, and this finding is consistent with the results of the study by Li and Peng [58,59]. This is because more educated people have less difficulty using the Internet, are good at using Internet tools to obtain health knowledge, and have a better level of health knowledge, whereas less educated people may find it difficult to use the Internet.…”

Does Internet Use Impact the Health Status of Middle-Aged and Older Populations? Evidence from China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS)

“…Li found that Internet use demonstrated significant positive effects on the health of rural adults through a survey of 7528 rural residents aged >16 years in China. They also found that adults improved their health by increasing social interaction and staying physically active through the Internet [ 14 ]. Lyu studied 7193 older adults aged 60–95 years and found that Internet use was positively associated with the self-assessed health of older adults, while social capital was an important mediator of this relationship [ 15 ].…”

Does Internet Use Connect Us to a Healthy Diet? Evidence from Rural China

“…where IV ct was our instrumental variable (IV), and the other variables were defined as above. We examined whether the respondent had a computer at home and considered this as the IV, which is widely used as an instrumental variable for the Internet [39].…”