Gaps in knowledge: Tracking and explaining gender differences in health information seeking
Gaps in knowledge: Tracking and explaining gender differences in health information seeking
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DOI：
10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.01.028
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发表时间：
2015-03-01
影响因子：
5.4
通讯作者：
Manierre, Matthew J.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Manierre, Matthew J.
近年来，自我导向的健康信息寻求越来越普遍，但有大量证据表明，女性比男性更有可能从事信息寻求。以前的研究在很大程度上忽略了这种差异的意义，无论是作为一个经验和理论的发现。目前的研究有两个目标，一是试图追踪这种性别差距，二是测试其存在的解释。测试的三种解释是基于过去的研究结果的性别分工的儿童保育劳动，性别反应的疾病，和性别感知的疾病风险。使用来自重复横断面数据和2012年健康信息趋势调查（HINTS）数据的多个因变量对这些数据进行了测试。结果表明，女性更有可能寻找癌症信息，一般信息，并在互联网上的信息比男性随着时间的推移，虽然差距可能会在癌症信息的情况下关闭。这三种解释也没有得到明确的支持，尽管感知的癌症风险作为一种中介，男性可能不太可能寻找癌症信息。根据这一分析，很明显，在寻求信息方面存在性别差距，男性气质和健康的理论在某些情况下可能是有希望的，但需要更多的解释。(C)2015爱思唯尔有限公司版权所有。
Self-directed health information seeking has become increasingly common in recent years, yet there is a substantial body of evidence suggesting that females are more likely to engage in information seeking than males. Previous research has largely ignored the significance of this difference as both an empirical and a theoretical finding. The current study has two goals, seeking to track this sex gap over time and to test explanations for its existence. The three explanations tested are based in past findings of gendered division of childcare labor, gendered reactivity to illness, and gendered perceived risk of illness. These were tested using multiple dependent variables from both repeated cross sectional data and 2012 data from the Health Information Trends Survey (HINTS). Results show that females are significantly more likely to look for cancer information, information in general, and information over the Internet over time than males, though the gap may be closing in the case of cancer information. The three explanations also received little clear support though perceived risk of getting cancer acted as a mediator through which men may be less likely to look for cancer information. Based on this analysis it is clear that a sex gap in information seeking is present and theories of masculinity and health may hold promise in some contexts but additional explanations are needed. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.