Open Access

ARTICLE

The Influence of Internet Use on Women’s Depression and Its Countermeasures—Empirical Analysis Based on Data from CFPS

Dengke Xu¹, Linlin Shen¹, Fangzhong Xu^2,*

1 School of Economics, Hangzhou Dianzi University, Hangzhou, 310018, China
2 School of Mathematics and Computer Science, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou, 311300, China

* Corresponding Author: Fangzhong Xu. Email:

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Mental Health and Social Development)

International Journal of Mental Health Promotion 2024, 26(3), 229-238. https://doi.org/10.32604/ijmhp.2024.046023

Received 15 September 2023; Accepted 19 January 2024; Issue published 08 April 2024

Abstract

Based on China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) 2018 data, the multiple linear regression model is used to analyze the effects of Internet use on women’s depression, and to test the robustness of the regression results. At the same time, the effects of Internet use on mental health of women with different residence, age, marital status and physical health status are analyzed. Then, we can obtain that Internet use has a significant promoting effect on women’s mental health, while the degree of Internet use has a significant inhibitory effect on women’s mental health. In addition, the study found that women’s age, education, place of residence, marital status, length of sleep, working status and physical health status are the main factors affecting the mental health of Chinese women. In the heterogeneity investigation of residence, age, marital status and physical health status, Internet use has a greater negative impact on the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D8) scores of women in rural areas, has a significant positive impact on the mental health of middle-aged and elderly women or women with spouses, and has a positive impact on the mental health of physically unhealthy women. Therefore, in view of women’s mental health needs and the problems existing in the use of the Internet, this paper puts forward some suggestions to further improve the overall mental health level of women.

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Keywords

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