marginally significantp < 0.1
Finally, our age-stratified analyses demonstrated that while middle-aged adults (45–64 years) generally exhibited stronger mediation effects of internet use in the cognition-depression pathway compared to older adults (≥65 years), with most comparisons reaching statistical significance (p < 0.05), some pathways showed marginally significant differences (0.05 < p < 0.1) that warrant cautious interpretation.