Bridging Digital Financial Inclusion and Psychosocial Health: Evaluating the Role of Digital Finance in Enhancing Mental Well-being Across Economic Landscapes
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: Digital financial inclusion (DFI) may improve access to financial services and information, but its relationship with the psychosocial health of middle-aged and older adults remains insufficiently understood. This study combines the 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2018 waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study with city- and provincial-level data on DFI, broadband development, hospital resources, and regional economic conditions. The final dataset contains 78,012 person-year observations from adults aged 45 years and above. Province and year fixed-effects models show that a one-standard-deviation increase in DFI is associated with a 0.271-point reduction in depressive symptoms measured by the CESD score and a 0.033-point reduction in self-reported health scores, where lower scores indicate better health. These relationships remain evident in generalized ordered logit models, propensity-score-weighted estimates, and models with standard errors clustered by respondent. A recentered broadband instrument, constructed from initial broadband exposure and leave-one-out DFI growth, produces estimates close to the baseline results. Formal interaction tests provide limited evidence of consistent differences across broad geographic divisions, although the association varies across economic-hub areas and according to provincial hospital composition. In particular, the negative association is stronger where primary hospitals account for a larger share of hospital resources and weaker where tertiary hospitals are more concentrated. Statistical mediation analysis further identifies significant indirect associations through primary-hospital availability and per-capita telecommunications activity, with the latter accounting for a larger reduction in the DFI coefficient. These findings indicate a stable negative relationship between DFI and poor psychosocial health, while the observational design and identifying assumptions prevent an unconditional causal interpretation.
Source: Research Square
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7204193734