A new study has revealed that adults over 60 who use the internet are better adjusted psychologically than older adults who do not.
Dr Genevieve Johnson, Educational Psychologist from Curtin University’s School of Education conducted the research that studied the responses of 122 Canadian adults aged 60 and over.
Dr Johnson said the survey addressed the relationship between internet use and psychological wellness, in particular loneliness, evaluation of competence, social support and depression.
“As the world moves towards more online communication, we wanted to examine the relationship between psychological wellness and internet use among older adults and look at patterns between demographics such as age and income and internet use in late adulthood,” Dr Johnson said.
“The research showed that older adults who use the internet participated in many of the same activities online as younger adults, but to a lesser extent.
“In particular we looked at three clusters of characteristics; frequency of online use, wellbeing and participant demographics.
“The report showed that there was a link between internet use and personal evaluation of competence.
Dr Johnson also said a strong sense of personal abilities could be a factor in the older adults’ willingness to try new technologies in the first place.
The study also showed that there is now a much higher rate of internet use amongst older adults compared to other reports from the past decade.
“Fifty-seven per cent of the sample group reported to use the internet every day and 12 per cent used the internet weekly,” she said.
“Only one person in four aged 60 or over reported never using the internet. This is in stark contrast to similar studies from 2004 which state that only around 38 per cent of adults over the age of 65 go online.
“As the baby boomers start to enter this age bracket, we are seeing a much higher uptake of internet use than those born before this cohort.”
Contact:
Gracie Daniel, Public Relations, Curtin
Tel: 08 9266 3353, Mobile: 0401 103 018, Email: gracie.daniel@curtin.edu.au
Web: http://curtin.edu.au
