Mechanisms linking digital inclusion to social participation among older adults in rural China: evidence from cognitive ability, mental health, and village-level digital use density

<title>Abstract</title> <p>Background Against the concurrent advancement of digital village development and active ageing policies, the central issue facing older adults in rural China is no longer simply whether they can access the Internet, but whether digital resources can be translated into real-world social participation. This study proposes the “digital participation conversion paradox”: digital inclusion is expected to lower participation barriers and broaden participation opportunities, yet technological access does not necessarily generate offline participation. Methods Using data from 6,588 rural adults aged 60 years or older in the 2018 China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS), together with 2015–2020 longitudinal data, we constructed a digital inclusion index and examined its conditional association with social participation, mechanistic evidence involving cognitive ability and mental health, the contextual boundary represented by village-level digital use density, and differences across participation domains. Results First, after controlling for individual characteristics, health status, marital status, education, income, and province fixed effects, digital inclusion was consistently positively associated with social participation (β = 0.110, SE = 0.018, p &lt; 0.001). Second, cognitive ability and mental health constituted a mediating mechanism of “capacity generation–psychological empowerment.” Third, the main effect of village-level digital use density was not significant, and its interaction with individual digital inclusion was weakly negative, indicating that a higher Internet-use rate did not automatically amplify the participation gains associated with individual digital inclusion. Fourth, after controlling for participation at baseline in 2015, digital inclusion in 2015 still positively predicted relational and public participation in 2020 (β = 0.064, p = 0.029). Conclusions The key to digitally empowering older adults in rural areas lies not only in expanding access, but also in embedding digital resources in cognitive capacity, psychological support, and offline organizational settings so that digital inclusion can be converted into real-world social participation.</p>