{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T05:54:17Z","timestamp":1791179657378,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":32,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791158400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Although digital exclusion has been widely discussed in relation to healthcare access and digital service use, less is known about its implications for exercise participation among middle-aged and older adults. This study examined how individual digital literacy and area-level digital exclusion jointly shape exercise participation in China.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Data were drawn from three waves of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS; 2013, 2015, and 2018) and linked to city-year indicators from the China Statistical Yearbook. The analytic sample included 13,085 person-wave observations from 9,201 unique respondents across 111 cities. Exercise participation was measured as a binary indicator of engagement in exercise-oriented physical activity. Individual digital literacy was assessed using a composite index of digital access, internet use, device resources, and digital behaviors. Area-level digital exclusion was measured using a reverse-coded city-year indicator of contextual digital exclusion. Mixed-effects logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations of individual digital literacy and area-level digital exclusion with exercise participation and to test their cross-level interaction.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      37.7% of observations reported exercise participation, increasing from 27.5% in 2013 to 40.3% in 2018. In fully adjusted models, higher individual digital literacy was associated with greater odds of exercise participation (OR = 1.11, 95% CI: 1.022\u20131.208,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.05). Area-level digital exclusion was negatively associated with exercise participation; although the association was attenuated after adjustment for demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, it remained statistically significant in the fully adjusted model (OR = 0.94, 95% CI: 0.869\u20130.991,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.05). The interaction between individual digital literacy and area-level digital exclusion was negative and significant (OR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.929\u20130.984,\n                      <jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\n                      &amp;lt; 0.01), indicating that the positive association between digital literacy and exercise participation was weaker in more digitally excluded cities.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Individual digital literacy was positively associated with exercise participation among middle-aged and older adults in China, whereas area-level digital exclusion weakened this beneficial association. Policies promoting healthy aging should address both older adults\u2019 digital literacy and the broader digital exclusion in which they live.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1907697","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]],"date-time":"2026-10-05T05:33:09Z","timestamp":1791178389000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Individual digital literacy, area-level digital exclusion, and inequalities in exercise participation among middle-aged and older adults: evidence from China"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Xiaofan","family":"Hao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Arts and Sports, Huanghe University of Science and Technology, Zhengzhou","place":["Henan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Meiling","family":"Duan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Zhengzhou Preschool Education College, Zhengzhou","place":["Henan, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chenming","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Dongying Vocational College, Dongying","place":["Shandong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chuanwen","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Sports and Health, Heze University, Heze","place":["Shandong, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"34226","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-025-16093-3","article-title":"Digital literacy\u2019s impact on digital village participation in rural left-behind women through serial mediation of political trust and self-efficacy.","volume":"15","author":"Bai","year":"2025","journal-title":"Sci. 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