Page 43 - IJPS-11-1

International Journal of

Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE
Internet use and cognitin among American

middle-aged and older adults: The gendered
moderating effect of age

1
2
Kun Wang * , Zainab Suntai , and Yanjun Dong 3
1 Department of Social Work, College of Arts and Sciences, The University of Alabama at Birmingham,
Birmingham, AL, Illinois, United States of America
2The Children & Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana
Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, United States of America
3School of Social Welfare, College of Integrated Health Sciences, State University of New York,
University at Albany, Albany, New York, United States of America

Abstract

The popularity of Internet use brings more potential for healthy cognitive aging
among older adults. Emerging studies have examined the age and gender differences
in the link between older adults’ Internet use and cognition. However, few studies have
investigated the gendered age difference regarding this association. The purpose of
this study was to examine whether age would moderate the effect of Internet use on
cognition among middle-aged and older adults and whether this relationship would
*Corresponding author: be different between men and women. A total of 6,338 adults aged 50 or older were
Kun Wang drawn on from the 2016 Wave of the Health and Retirement Study. Sequential linear
(kwang8@binghamton.edu) regressions were conducted to examine the interactions between Internet use, age,
Citation: Wang, K., Suntai, Z., and gender on cognition. The three-way interaction of Internet use, age, and gender
& Dong, Y. (2025). Internet use was a significant predictor of cognition (β = 0.01, p < 0.05). Specifically, the positive
and cognition among American
middle-aged and older adults: The effect of Internet use on cognition was higher among older women of older age than
gendered moderating effect of age. those of younger age, while the positive effect remained the same for older men of
International Journal of Population different ages. The Internet offers a valuable resource for engaging middle-aged and
Studies, 11(1): 37-46.
https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.3119 older adults in activities that not only provide social interaction but also stimulate
cognitive processes. The study suggests that the aging process does not necessarily
Received: March 8, 2024
inhibit the cognitive benefits that middle-aged and older adults can gain from using
Revised: July 9, 2024 the Internet. Findings from this study indicated that future Internet/technology
Accepted: July 15, 2024 training to increase cognition among middle-aged and older adults should be
age- and gender-tailored.
Published Online: October 23,
2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s). Keywords: Internet use; Cognition; Gender; Age; Older adults; Middle-aged adults;
This is an Open-Access article United States
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is 1. Introduction
properly cited.
1.1. Internet use and cognition
Publisher’s Note: AccScience
Publishing remains neutral with The role of technological advances in improving cognitive health outcomes has become
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional increasingly opaque over the past few decades. Brain plasticity refers to the brain’s ability
affiliations. to adapt and change as a result of experiences (Sharma et al., 2013), and researchers are

Volume 11 Issue 1 (2025) 37 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.3119