Associations of Smartphone Ownership with Health-Related Quality of Life and Social Connectedness Among Older Japanese Adults: A Quantile Regression Analysis
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Loneliness and social isolation in later life are important public health concerns, and information and communication technology (ICT) may support everyday functioning and social participation among older adults. However, mean-based analyses may obscure variation in associations across outcome distributions. Using quantile regression, we examined the associations of smartphone ownership with health-related quality of life (SF-36v2: PCS, MCS, and RCS) and social connectedness (LSNS-6) among 919 community-dwelling senior club members in a regional Japanese city; regression analyses used 839 complete cases. Coefficients were estimated at the 20th, 40th, 60th, and 80th conditional quantiles. Smartphone ownership was associated with RCS at the 20th (β = 3.72), 40th (β = 4.42), and 60th (β = 2.21) quantiles, but not at the 80th quantile (β = 1.41), and coefficients differed significantly across quantiles (F(3, 3353) = 3.97, p = 0.008). The 20th-, 40th-, and 60th-quantile coefficients and the Wald test remained significant after Holm adjustment. Smartphone ownership was not associated with PCS, MCS, or LSNS-6 at any quantile. The smartphone ownership × gender interaction for RCS was non-significant at all quantiles, providing no evidence that this association differed by gender. These findings indicate that the association between smartphone ownership and role/social functioning varies across its conditional distribution. Because the study is cross-sectional and actual smartphone use was not measured, causal interpretation is not warranted. Longitudinal studies measuring patterns of smartphone use are needed.
Source: Social Sciences
Authors: Takashi Kawano, Goro Moriki
Institution: Hiroshima Bunka Gakuen University
Language: English
Subfield: Demography
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,172
OpenAlex ID: W7204866013