Article Preview
TopIntroduction
Compared with urban citizens, rural residents face numerous health disparities. This difference is also gendered; rural women are more likely to suffer from chronic disease or depression, have higher morbidity and early mortality, have higher susceptibility to infectious and gynecological diseases, and have less access to health services than men (Wainer, 1998; Smalley et al., 2010). Such health disparities are more pronounced in developing countries (Read & Gorman, 2010; Strasser et al., 2016). For instance, in China, the lack of medical resources in rural areas, the low awareness of disease prevention among rural women, and the multiple responsibilities of women in caring for the family, supporting the elderly, and performing labor, make rural women a high-risk group for many diseases. Some women in rural areas have a higher risk of infertility because of their ethnic culture and religious beliefs (Seidu et al., 2023). Women in China now make up the majority of rural development and construction due to the country’s rapidly aging population, intensifying the tendency of agricultural feminization and the hollowing out of rural areas (Liu, 2015).
The well-being of a nation’s female population has a significant impact on women as well as children’s health, education, and the economic well-being of households. For the sustainable development of families, society, and healthy villages, rural women’s health must be addressed. This is a large issue that needs global attention.
Various factors affect the health of rural women, and the internet is one of them. The effects of the internet on the lives and livelihoods of rural residents are noteworthy (Ye et al., 2022), especially after the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. At present, no academic consensus has been reached regarding the internet’s effects on the overall health of adults. Most of the extant literature has focused on only a single aspect of health, such as physical health (Beck et al., 2014; Whittaker et al., 2016; Zheng et al., 2016) or depression (Primack et al., 2017; Yang et al., 2021), despite both physical and mental wellness being crucial elements of overall health. Moreover, several studies have shown that internet use can benefit both physical and mental health. For example, Ernsting et al. (2017) found that using smartphones and health apps to change and manage health behaviors can improve physical and mental health. Nie et al. (2017) found that using the internet to communicate with friends and family can lower depression levels.
Several studies also cover the potential for heterogeneity within various groups or geographical regions. According to heterogeneity analysis, internet usage affects groups such as men, seniors, and those with at least a senior high school diploma (Han & Zhao, 2021). However, only a few studies specifically target women, particularly those in rural areas (Wathen & Harris, 2007; Finfgeld-Connett, 2009; Kratzke et al., 2013; Kassim, 2021; Pongdee et al., 2024). Consequently, questions of how internet use affects rural women’s health and its underlying mechanism have been relatively unexplored, remaining largely part of the “background,” especially in China, which has the largest rural female population in the world.
To fill this gap, we use the data from China Family Panel Studies (CFPS) collected in 2018 to investigate the relationship and mechanism between internet use and the health status of rural women.
Following the abovementioned discussion, the following research questions are proposed:
- 1.
Do rural women’s health conditions improve as a result of internet use? and
- 2.
If so, how does internet use influence rural women’s health?