Adolescent cybersurfing for health information: a new resource that crosses barriers.
OBJECTIVE
To examine adolescents' use of and attitudes toward accessing health information through the Internet.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, school-based survey.


METHODS
A socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 412 suburban New York 10th graders (mean [SD] age, 15.8 [0.68] years).


METHODS
Accessing the Internet for health information.


RESULTS
Half (49%) of the sampled adolescents had used the Internet to get health information. Topics most often explored through the Internet included sexually transmitted diseases; diet, fitness, and exercise; and sexual behaviors. Adolescents found Internet information to be of high value (using a composite gauging worth, trustworthiness, use, and relevance), with no significant differences related to sex, ethnicity, or mother's education. When considering 11 separate health topics, girls found it more valuable to have information on birth control, diet and nutrition, exercise, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and dating violence. Only for alternative medicine were there differences by ethnicity, and there were no differences based on mother's education for the value of having specific health information available through the Internet.


CONCLUSIONS
For adolescents, the Internet is an accessed and valued information source on a range of sensitive health issues.
Borzekowski
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The Mount Sinai Hospital Adolescent Health Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA. dborzeko@jhsph.edu
Rickert
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VI
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D017579:Domestic Violence; D015444:Exercise; D005193:Family Planning Services; D005260:Female; D006262:Health; D006266:Health Education; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; D021841:Safe Sex; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires