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Release Date: September 16, 2014 | By Sharyn Alden, HBNS Contributing Writer Research Source: Journal of Health Communication

KEY POINTS

* People who use social networking sites are more likely to seek health information online. * People with a chronic disease or a loved one with a chronic disease were more likely to search for disease-specific information. * Women and people with higher incomes were more likely than men and people with lower incomes to use social networking sites.

Newswise The use of social networking sites may have implications for accessing online health information, finds a new longitudinal study from the Journal of Health Communication.

Socioeconomic and demographic factors that lead to the disparities in social networking sites could also contribute to disparities in seeking health information online, said the studys lead author, Yang Feng, Ph.D., associate professor in the department of communication studies at the University of Virginias College at Wise.

People who are active users of social networking sites may tend to be active online health information seekers. With the growth of social networking, the relationship between their use and peoples likelihood to seek health information online was more obvious in 2010 than in 2008 and 2006.

Researchers analyzed data collected from phone interviews of 2,928 adults who took part in the Health Tracking Surveys from the Pew Internet & American Life Project during 2006, 2008 and 2010. The surveys asked participants whether they used the Internet; used social networking sites such as Facebook; whether they searched for health information online, including information about a specific disease, medical treatment or doctors; and whether or not they or someone close to them had a chronic disease.

The researchers found significant disparities in use of social networking sites and the tendency to search for health information online. In all three years of the survey, age was the most significant factor in social networking site use, with younger people more likely to use them than older people. In 2010, women and people with higher incomes were more likely than men and people with lower incomes to use social networking sites.

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Online Social Networking Linked to Use of Web for Health Info