Digital Literacy and Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Exploring Mediating Roles of Social and Health Engagement

Understanding how digital literacy affects the quality of life (QoL) of older adults is crucial in the context of growing digitization. Drawing on data from a survey of 2,238 community-dwelling older adults in Hunan province, China, this study investigated the association between digital literacy and QoL, including mediating mechanisms and the threshold effects of this relationship. The results indicate that digital literacy was positively correlated with QoL of older adults, and these findings remained robust after using double/debiased machine learning and instrumental variable approach. Moreover, the QoL-enhancing effect was more pronounced above a digital literacy score of 27, reflecting a threshold effect. Mediation analysis revealed that digital literacy indirectly improved QoL through two pathways: community participation and health checkup. Overall, the findings suggest developing targeted digital literacy policies for older adults, which should prioritize comprehensive digital literacy training that goes beyond basic skills. Furthermore, promoting digital literacy as a means to enhance social participation and health engagement can help support the well-being of older populations and foster active aging in an increasingly digital world.