Page 32 - IJPS-6-2

International Journal of Population Studies

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Correlates of internet use among

African American older adults: Gender

and age differences

Kun Wang*, Kefentse Kubanga
School of Social Work, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA, 35401

Abstract: This study aimed to compare internet use among African American older adults by
gender and age group and investigate correlates of internet use by gender and age group. A
total of 1117 African American older adults aged over 50 from the 2016 Wave of the Health
Retirement Study were included in the study. Sequential ordinal logistic regressions were
conducted to investigate correlates of internet use among older African Americans by gender
and age group. Significant gender and age differences were identified in internet use frequency.
Gender differences on correlates were revealed: being old-old and limitations on activities of
ARTICLE INFO
daily living were only associated with decreased odds of more frequent internet use among
Received: December 18, 2020 women. In addition, higher depression was only associated with reduced odds of more frequent
Accepted: January 18, 2021 internet use among men. Age differences on correlates indicated that education and cognition
Published: February 10, 2021 were the only two significant factors pertinent to internet use among the old-old. By contrast,
*CORRESPONDING AUTHOR for young-old adults, retirement, poverty, education, cognition, and depression were also
predictive. Practitioners should consider these gender and age differences when promoting
Kun Wang, internet use among older African Americans. The results presented in this study might also
School of Social Work, inform the design of future gender- and age-tailored interventions.
University of Alabama, Box
870314, Tuscaloosa, Keywords: Internet use; African American older adults; Gender; Old-old
AL, 35401, USA.
kwang30@crimson.ua.edu
1. Introduction
CITATION
The advent and fast development of information and communication technology (ICT) brings
Wang K, Kubanga K. (2020).
Correlates of internet use more potential for successful aging of older adults. Overcoming the limitations of distance and
among African American space, the use of ICT can expand older adults’ social networks, provide healthcare treatments
older adults: Gender and to people at home, offer easier access to more resources, and increase living standards (Berde,
age differences. International 2019; Harper, Wellman, and Quan-Haase, 2020). Recent studies have indicated the positive
Journal of Population Studies,
6(2):26-38. effects of the Internet among older populations (Cotten, Anderson, and McCullough, 2013;
doi: 10.18063/ijps.v6i2.1226 Yu, Wu, and Chi, 2020). Internet use among older adults has increased their social interactions,
reduced social isolation and loneliness, helped to manage chronic diseases, assisted with
Copyright: ©2021 Wang
and Kubanga. This is activities of daily living (ADL) in older adults, and increased their quality of life (Harper,
an Open Access article Wellman, and Quan-Haase, 2020; Kim, Lee, Christensen, et al., 2017; Yu, Wu, and Chi,
distributed under the terms 2020). Furthermore, through the Internet, many traditional interventions for older adults could
of the Creative Commons be delivered online. Evaluation studies have confirmed the effectiveness of computerized
Attribution-Non Commercial interventions on reducing older adults’ loneliness and depression, promoting healthy lifestyles,
4.0 International License
(http://creativecommons.org/ and increasing cognitive functioning (Choi, Kong, and Jung, 2012; Sriramatr, Berry, and
licenses/by-nc/4.0/), permitting Spence, 2014). Thus, use of the Internet is playing an increasingly important role in older
all noncommercial use, adults’ wellbeing. However, compared to young and middle-aged adults, internet use among
distribution, and reproduction older adults is still low. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that about two thirds older
in any medium, provided the
original work is properly cited. adults aged over 65 used the Internet, while the average number of all adults in the United
States (U.S.) was 90% (Anderson and Perrin, 2017). Therefore, it is necessary to investigate
correlates of internet use among older adults and promote their adoption and use of the Internet.

26 International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 2