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Is There Such a Thing as an Online Health Lifestyle

Examining the relationship between social status, Internet access, and health behaviors

Bibliographic Data

ID20508169
AuthorsTimothy M Hale (0000-0002-4228-465X, Partners HealthCare Connected Health, corresponding author)
Year2013
Volume16
Issue4
Pages501-518
Publication date2013-05-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInformation Communication & Society (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1369-118X • E-ISSN: 1468-4462
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/1369118x.2013.777759
OpenAlexW1514427522
LanguageEN
Citations received14
References cited32

The purpose of this paper is to examine the use of the Internet for health-related purposes and whether this usage is part of larger pattern of health-promoting behaviors, or health lifestyle. Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus provides the key theoretical concept that links health lifestyle and the digital inequality framework to explain how social conditions (i.e. social status and quality of Internet access) influence attitudes and behaviors. Path analysis is used to examine the relationship between key endogenous variables on attitudes, health behavior, health status, and online health-related activities, while controlling for demographics and other factors. Data comes from the National Cancer Institute's 2007 Health Information National Trends Survey. The results demonstrate that online health behaviors can be usefully conceptualized as elements of health lifestyle. The combination of health lifestyle and digital inequality provides a broader theoretical framework that highlights the importance of social conditions to influence people's Internet habitus and routine health-promoting behaviors. The combination of health lifestyle and digital inequality provides a useful theoretical framework for future research investigating persistent social disparities in health and the potential for the growing reliance on information and communication technologies to contribute to socially patterned health outcomes. Keywords: Internethealth information seekingonline health lifestyledigital inequalityhabitus Acknowledgements This research was conducted as part of my doctoral dissertation. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the members of my doctoral committee, Drs. Shelia R. Cotten (chair), Patricia Drentea, Melinda Goldner, Belinda Needham, and Nir Menachemi for their helpful comments. Notes Details regarding the computation of the sample and replicate weights can be found in the 2007 HINTS Final Report by Cantor et al. (2009). Recommendations about the use of weights and the appropriate syntax for use with a variety of statistical packages is provided with the data-set available at http://hints.cancer.gov

Cultural capital · Digital health · Gratitude · Habitus · Health care · Health equity · Political science · Public health · Public relations · Social capital · Social determinants of health · Social science · Sociology · The Internet · World Wide Web · Computer Science · Digital Marketing and Social Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Medicine · Nursing · Psychology · Social Media and Politics · Social Psychology · Gerontology

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Unique citing works14
Citations per year1,08
Citation span2013 - 2025 (13)
Citation velocityrecent
Highly citedNo
Citation typesNeutral: 13
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