Access in the Digital Field, e-Health Behaviors, and Health

Elizabeth Withers , Portland State University
Hyeyoung Woo, Portland State University

Although digital information and communication technologies (ICTs) are becoming more and more essential for accessing important resources, many experience barriers to digital access. Patterns of digital access may influence health differentials as many digital resources are closely related to health. Despite the growing pervasiveness of digital access, and its potential importance for individual’s health, empirical research examining the association between and health is scarce. In this study, we fill in this gap in the literature by investigating how digital access is associated with health outcome, using data from (Cycles 1 and 3) of the Health Information National Trends Survey 4 (N=4,816). Our findings indicate that among the respondents who have internet connections, those with various modes for internet connection have better health compared to those who have limited access, and this association was not mediated by eHealth behaviors. We discussed implications of our findings and next steps for the analysis.

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 Presented in Session 11. Health & Mortality 2