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Effects of Web-Based Social Connectedness on Older Adults’ Depressive Symptoms: A Two-Wave Cross-Lagged Panel Study
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Abstract
Background: Depressive symptoms are the most prevalent mental health concern among older adults (possibly heightened during the COVID-19 pandemic), which raises questions about how such symptoms can be lowered in this population. Existing research shows that offline social connectedness is a protective factor against depression in older adults; however, it is unknown whether web-based social connectedness can have similar effects. Objective: This study investigates whether social connectedness on a support website protects older adults against depressive symptoms over the course of a year, above and beyond the protective effect of offline social connectedness. The secondary aim is to determine whether older adults with increased depressive symptoms are more likely to engage in social connectedness on this website. Thus, we examine depressive symptoms as both an outcome and predictor of web-based social connectedness to fully understand the chain of causality among these variables. Finally, we compare web-based social connectedness with offline social connectedness in their ability to lower depressive symptoms among older adults. Methods: A total of 197 adults aged 65 years or older were given access to a social support website, where they were able to communicate with each other via a discussion forum for a year. Participants’ social connectedness on the web-based platform, conceptualized as message production and consumption, was measured using behavioral log data as the number of messages participants wrote and read, respectively, during the first 6 months (t1) and the following 6 months (t2) of the study. Participants self-reported their offline social connectedness as the number of people in their support networks, and they reported their depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-8 both at baseline (t1) and at 12-month follow-up (t2). To ascertain the flow of causality between these variables, we employed a cross-lagged panel design, in which all variables were measured at t1 and t2. Results: After controlling for the effect of offline support networks at t1, web-based message consumption at t1 decreased older adults’ depressive symptoms at t2 (β=−.11; P=.02), but web-based message production at t1 did not impact t2 depressive symptoms (β=.12; P=.34). Web-based message consumption had a larger effect (β=−.11; P=.02) than offline support networks (β=−.08; P=.03) in reducing older adults’ depressive symptoms over time. Higher baseline depressive symptoms did not predict increased web-based message consumption (β=.12; P=.36) or production (β=.02; P=.43) over time. Conclusions: The more messages older adults read on the web-based forum for the first 6 months of the study, the less depressed they felt at the 1-year follow-up, above and beyond the availability of offline support networks at baseline. This pinpoints the substantial potential of web-based communication to combat depressive symptoms in this vulnerable population. International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s13063-015-0713-2
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Most interventional studies (n = 4) reported that social media-related interventions including video conferencing and training in using social media platforms were effective in reducing depressive symptoms.
“Similarly, most interventional studies (n = 4) reported that social media-related interventions including video conferencing and training in using social media platforms were effective in reducing depressive symptoms (Hwang et al., 2021;Morton et al., 2018;Tsai et al., 2010;Tsai & Tsai, 2011).”
From The relationship between social media use and psychosocial outcomes in older adults: A systematic review (2024) · cites this paper as Hwang et al., 2021
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Approaches to enhance social connection in older adults: an integrative review of literature
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“This trend is echoed in the findings of seven studies [18, 19, 23, 25, 27, 29] which noted that internet usage, especially for social contact and entertainment, significantly reduces depression scores among older adults.”
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“First, some studies have analyzed the negative correlation between social connectedness and individual depressive symptoms (Hwang et al., 2021 ; Park et al., 2023 ; Stoms et al., 2025).”
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“Empirical studies consistently demonstrate that socially connected older individuals tend to experience lower levels of loneliness and depression, greater emotional resilience, and improved overall well-being (Hwang et al., 2020; Kamene, 2025).”
Online Single-Session Intervention to Foster Connection in Older Adults: Pilot Trial
Chan, S. C. Y., Huang, Q. L., Tsang, A. P. L., Ho, W. S., Chan, R., Yeung, C., Wong, S., & Tsai, M. (2025) · Research on Social Work Practice · doi:10.1177/10497315251404932
“Reductions in depressive symptoms among intervention participants, though marginal, are consistent with prior evidence suggesting that emotionally expressive, af fi rming interactions can buffer internal distress and promote psychological resilience (Hwang et al., 2021; Pennebaker, 1997).”
Li, Q., Jiang, Z.-Y., Chen, H., Hu, J., Gui, S., Wang, J., Yang, X., & Yang, J.-Y. (2025) · BMC Geriatrics · doi:10.1186/s12877-025-06466-8
“Previous studies have utilized this approach to explore bidirectional associations between two variables to better understand how these variables affect each other over time [20, 21].”
Metadata
- Authors
- Hwang, J., Toma, C. L., Chen, J., Shah, D. V., Gustafson, D., & Mares, M.-L.
- Affiliations
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- University of Maryland, College Park (US)
- Corresponding author
- Hwang, Juwon
- Venue
- Journal of Medical Internet Research
- Publisher
- JMIR Publications Inc.
- Published
- 2021-01-13
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- e21275
- ISSN
- 1438-8871 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7840281
- OpenAlex
- W3109482589
- Cited by
- 34
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 5
- FWCI
- 6.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Journal of Medical Internet Research (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- The HKU Scholars Hub (University of Hong Kong) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Technology Use by Older Adults
- Social Sciences › Health › Health disparities and outcomes
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Aging, Health, and Disability
- Keywords
- depressive symptoms, older adults, online social support, message production, depression prevention, COVID-19 pandemic, online forums, mental health in aging, social networks, social isolation, online harassment
- MeSH terms
- COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, Aged, Depression, Humans, Social Support, Internet, Self Report
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