title: Examining Associations between Health Information Seeking Behavior and Adult Education Status in the U.S.: An Analysis of the 2012 PIAAC Data.
abstract: This paper presents data from the Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies with a focus on the interrelationships among health information seeking behavior (HISB), and health status or use of preventive health measures for U.S. adults both with and without a high school diploma. Key results of ordinal and binary logistic regression analyses indicated that, after controlling for demographic factors, (1) adults with a high school diploma use more text-based health information sources while adults without a high school diploma use more oral sources, (2) using the Internet as a source of health information is more strongly related to reporting excellent/very good health status than having a high school diploma, (3) those without a high school diploma who use the Internet report the largest increase in health status over any other health information source, and (4) for those with learning disability or vision problem, a high facility in reading English is an important predictor of whether the Internet is used as a health information source. The Internet appears to play a key role in both enhancing health status and enabling use of preventive measures for those with and without a high school diploma; although, individuals without a high school diploma who use the Internet for health information derive substantial benefit in health status.
authors.affiliation: Adult Literacy Research Center at College of Education and Human Development, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Iris
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Feinberg
authors.affiliation: Child and Youth Studies, Brock University, Toronto, Canada.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frijters
authors.affiliation: Public Health & Health Sciences, University of Michigan-Flint, Flint, Michigan, United States of America.
authors.forename: Vicki
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Johnson-Lawrence
authors.affiliation: Educational Psychology, Special Education, and Communication Disorders, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Daphne
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Greenberg
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of Adult Literacy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nightingale
authors.affiliation: Center for the Study of Adult Literacy, Georgia State University, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
authors.forename: Chelsea
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Moodie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D057226:Information Seeking Behavior; D020407:Internet; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States