Does ICT Usage Have a Positive or Negative Effect on Taiwanese Older Adults’ Emotional Experiences? The Moderating Role of Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction

Abstract

While some studies have found that older adults’ use of information and communications technology (ICT) contributes to their positive emotions, others have not. According to previous research, basic psychological needs satisfaction may help us explore the relationships between older adults’ ICT usage and their emotional experience. This study aimed to investigate the moderation effect of older adults’ basic psychological needs satisfaction on the relationship between ICT usage and emotional experience using the experience sampling method via the communication application, Line. At the first phase of the study, we surveyed each participant’s age, gender and satisfaction with basic psychological needs, and afterward, each participant needed to complete their current situation each day throughout the 10-day period. A total of 788 daily experiences of 32 participants (Mage = 63.13; SDage = 5.97, ranging from 52 to 75; 81% women) were collected, and hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) was conducted. Results revealed that ICT usage generally enhanced older adults’ positive emotional experience. Those with satisfied competence needs had stable and positive emotional experiences with or without using ICT, while those without could further promote their positive emotional experience by using ICT. Those with satisfied relatedness needs had more positive emotional experiences when using ICT, while those without had similar emotional experiences with or without ICT.