Paper Info
Title
Getting a second opinion: Social capital, digital inequalities, and health information repertoires
Abstract
AbstractThis research adopts a repertoire approach to examine the concept of a health information repertoire defined as a set of sources through which people get health information. Drawing on a random sample survey in Austin, TX, it borrows the concepts of cultural omnivores and univores to investigate how health information repertoire are related to social capital and digital inequalities. Results demonstrate that both the size and the composition of health information repertoires vary by social and digital connectivity. People with greater social capital have a larger repertoire and are less likely to be univores dependent on the Internet or interpersonal contacts. People with Internet access have a larger repertoire and are less likely to be univores dependent on television. More skilled Internet users are less likely to be univores dependent on interpersonal contacts, whereas frequent Internet users are more likely to be omnivores with a four-channel repertoire including the Internet, interpersonal contacts, television, and newspaper. The positive relationship between social capital and repertoire size is stronger among less-skilled Internet users. There are significant variations in health information repertoires in terms of media access and sociodemographic characteristics. Scholarly and practical implications are discussed.
Year
DOI
Venue
2014
10.1002/asi.23130
Periodicals
Field
DocType
Volume
Social science,Social capital,Interpersonal communication,Information retrieval,Advertising,Information seeking,Computer science,Repertoire,Newspaper,Inequality,Internet access,The Internet
Journal
65
Issue
ISSN
Citations 
12
2330-1635
0
PageRank 
References 
Authors
0.34
8
4
Name
Order
Citations
PageRank
Wenhong Chen1233.68
Kye-Hyoung Lee200.34
Joseph D. Straubhaar3163.94
Jeremiah Spence430.75