Sex differences in the use of the Internet as a source of health information among adolescents.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The Internet is a fundamental part of the day-to-day lives of adolescents. Faced with the difficulties of accessing conventional health services, adolescents use the Internet as a confidential and safe means of accessing information about health issues. OBJECTIVES: To describe sex differences in the way in which adolescents search for health information on the Internet. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey with a questionnaire administered by an interviewer. Sociodemographic and health variables and those related to the conditions of access and use of information and communication technologies were gathered (multivariate analysis). RESULTS: About 823 school-age youths were interviewed (21 questionnaires were discarded due to low quality), among whom 54.1% were girls and 46% were boys. The girls had a lower self-assessed level of health than the boys. About 86.5% of the girls used the Internet, compared with 89.9% of the boys (p = 0.155). About 21.7% and 48.3% of the boys used it daily/weekly and occasionally, respectively, compared with 17.9% and 59.1% of the girls who used it daily/weekly and occasionally, respectively. The multivariate analysis shows that girls (odds ratio [OR], 1.709; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.277-2.287), those in their last year of secondary school (OR, 1.369; 95% CI, 1.025-1.830) and those who had visited the doctor most often the previous year (OR, 1.061; 95% CI, 1.017-1.107), were statistically significantly more likely to search for health information on the Internet. CONCLUSION: Adolescent girls tend to seek more information about health than boys and there are differences in the way in which these girls search for health information on the Internet. The Internet provides adolescents, especially adolescent girls, with an opportunity for relaying health recommendations.