Influence of ethnicity, gender, and immigration status on millennials’ behavior related to seeking health information. Results from a national survey

• Pages: 621-631
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/EDI-05-2017-0102
• Published date: 20 August 2018
• Date: 20 August 2018
• Author: Roofia Galeshi,Jyotsna Sharman,Jinghong Cai
• Subject Matter: HR & organizational behaviour,Employment law,Diversity, equality, inclusion

Influence of ethnicity, gender, and

immigration status on millennials’

behavior related to seeking

health information

Results from a national survey

Roofia Galeshi

Department of Education, Radford University, Radford, Virginia, USA

Jyotsna Sharman

Department of Health and Human Performance, Radford University, Radford,

Virginia, USA, and

Jinghong Cai

Patton Education College, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA

Abstract

Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to understand the behavior diversities that exist among young

millennials’subgroups in ways they seek health-related information.

Design/methodology/approach –The authors ran several sets o f analyses on the 2012–2014

US Program for the Interna tional Assessment of Ad ult Competencies (PIA AC) Data using Stata.

The population was stra tified into four specif ic subgroups based on the ir gender, ethnicity—bl acks,

Hispanics and whites—im migration status, coll ege status—whether the y were enrolled in a progr am of

study at the time of the survey. The ou tcome variables were sources of health informa tion including print

(books/maga zines/brochures), traditiona lme dia (Radio/TV), inte rnet, family/friends/co-worke rs and health

professionals. The ind ependent variables w ere gender, ethnicity, e ducational status and immigration

status. The authors util ized the appropriate samp le weight derived by Orga nization for Economic

Cooperation and Develo pment so the findings can be generaliz ed to the populations. The analysis incl uded

several descriptive statistics and χ

2

test of independence.

Findings –Despite similarities, young adults’health seeking behavior is complex influenced by gender,

ethnicity, immigration status and education. The results indicated that while the internet is the primary

source of health-related information for all young adults, there are subtle differences in utilizing other

available resources. For example while more educated young adults seek help from their family members, the

less educated peers use the media to obtain health-related information. Ethnicity has also an effect on young

adults’information seeking behavior. The number of Hispanics and blacks that obtain their information from

traditional media is significantly higher than their white counterparts.

Research limitations/implications –This study has several lim itations. First, the aut hors did not

consider the effect of yo ung adults’digital lit eracy skills, proble m solving skills and num eracy skills

on their health seeking approach. Including these cognitive skills could reveal key information about

young adults approach to information seeking that is not apparent by race, ethnicity and gender only.

Another limitation of t his study is the lack of the abi lity to claim causation, P IAAC data are designed

strictly for cross-sec tional analysis.

Practical implications –Although, behaviors often do not change simply by presenting information,

trying to change behavior without improving individuals’understanding of the issue by providing accurate

information is likely to fail. Providing standardized health-related information sources that are accessible to

all is vitally important. The results indicate that while the majority of young adults use the internet as their

primary source of information only a few percentage of young adults seek information from health

professional. Consequently, there is a need for an easily accessible and standardized online health-related

source of information.

Social implications –Healthcare facilities and health related industries have the resources and the ability

to develop a reliable infrastructure that could potentially provide reliable information that is easy to

understand and navigate for adults with a variety of literacy and skills to use. Perhaps adopting the Universal

Design for Learning approach and providing information that is accessible to a variety of individuals

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

An International Journal

Vol. 37 No. 6, 2018

pp. 621-631

© Emerald PublishingLimited

2040-7149

DOI 10.1108/EDI-05-2017-0102

Received 5 May 2017

Revised 26 September 2017

20 January 2018

Accepted 8 February 2018

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

www.emeraldinsight.com/2040-7149.htm

621

Ethnicity,

gender, and

immigration

status