Internet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescents

This study provides new evidence on how the growingly significant digital life shapes Chinese adolescents' cognitive and mental health outcomes based on their gender, parental education, and geographical location. Using the China Education Panel Survey, a nationally representative survey follow...

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Main Authors: Zhou, M, Ding, X
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021
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author Zhou, M
Ding, X
author_facet Zhou, M
Ding, X
author_sort Zhou, M
collection OXFORD
description This study provides new evidence on how the growingly significant digital life shapes Chinese adolescents' cognitive and mental health outcomes based on their gender, parental education, and geographical location. Using the China Education Panel Survey, a nationally representative survey following 12–15-year-old students in 2013 and 2014, and individual fixed-effect models, we find that more time spent on the Internet is associated with higher self-reported depression scores. This negative impact on mental health is more substantial for girls, those with less-educated parents, and those living outside the city center. The link between Internet use and cognitive development is almost null. Time spent online negatively affects Chinese young adolescents' subjective well-being but has little impact on their cognitive development. The link between Internet use time and subjective well-being also depends on gender, parental education, and the geographical location of those adolescents. The heterogeneous impacts of Internet use time offer crucial new evidence to the multiple dimensions of the digital divide among adolescents in China.
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spelling oxford-uuid:a25e98d6-ce92-4906-9188-7e0af34daf752023-03-14T08:57:34ZInternet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescentsJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:a25e98d6-ce92-4906-9188-7e0af34daf75EnglishSymplectic ElementsWiley2021Zhou, MDing, XThis study provides new evidence on how the growingly significant digital life shapes Chinese adolescents' cognitive and mental health outcomes based on their gender, parental education, and geographical location. Using the China Education Panel Survey, a nationally representative survey following 12–15-year-old students in 2013 and 2014, and individual fixed-effect models, we find that more time spent on the Internet is associated with higher self-reported depression scores. This negative impact on mental health is more substantial for girls, those with less-educated parents, and those living outside the city center. The link between Internet use and cognitive development is almost null. Time spent online negatively affects Chinese young adolescents' subjective well-being but has little impact on their cognitive development. The link between Internet use time and subjective well-being also depends on gender, parental education, and the geographical location of those adolescents. The heterogeneous impacts of Internet use time offer crucial new evidence to the multiple dimensions of the digital divide among adolescents in China.
spellingShingle Zhou, M
Ding, X
Internet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescents
title Internet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescents
title_full Internet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescents
title_fullStr Internet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescents
title_full_unstemmed Internet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescents
title_short Internet use, depression, and cognitive outcomes among Chinese adolescents
title_sort internet use depression and cognitive outcomes among chinese adolescents
work_keys_str_mv AT zhoum internetusedepressionandcognitiveoutcomesamongchineseadolescents
AT dingx internetusedepressionandcognitiveoutcomesamongchineseadolescents