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Wang and Kubanga

removing participants who were not older than 50 or did not report their age, a subsample of 1117 African American older
adults was included as the final analytic sample.
2.2. Measures

2.2.1. Internet use
The dependent variable, internet use, was measured by a single-item question, “How often do you use a computer
for e-mail, Internet or other tasks?” Responses to this question were reversely coded as 1 = never/not relevant, 2
= not in the last month, 3 = once a month, 4 = several times a month, 5 = once a week, 6 = several times a week,
and 7 = daily.

2.2.2. Health-related factors
Previous studies have indicated that health-related factors, such as self-rated health, number of diseases, ADL,
and instrumental ADL (IADL) are correlates of internet use among older adults (Ang, Lim, and Malhotra, 2020;
Choi and DiNitto, 2013). Self-rated health was measured by a 5-point Likert Scale (1 = poor, 2 = fair, 3 = good, 4
= very good, and 5 = excellent). Number of chronic illnesses was the sum of doctor diagnosed illnesses, including
high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, lung disease, heart condition, stroke, and arthritis, ranging from 0 to 7.
Difficulties in ADL and IADL were measured by the total number of limited activities, including ADL, such as
bathing, dressing, eating, getting in/out of bed, and walking across a room, and IADL, such as using a phone, using
money, taking medications, shopping for groceries, and preparing for hot meals. Both difficulties in ADL and IADL
ranged from 0 to 5.
2.2.3. Mental health-related factors

Based on previous studies, depression, discrimination, and cognitive functioning were included as mental health-
related factors in this study (Ang, Lim, and Malhotra, 2020; Choi and DiNitto, 2013; Choi, Kim, Chipalo, et al.,
2020; Elliot, Mooney, Douthit, et al., 2014). Depression was measured by the Center for Epidemiological Studies
Depression (CESD) scale (Radloff, 1977). Participants were asked to indicate whether they “felt depressed,” “felt
activities were efforts,” “slept restless,” “was happy,” “felt lonely,” “enjoyed life,” “felt sad, and “could not get
going” in much of the time during the past week (0 = no, 1 = yes). The items, “was happy” and “enjoyed life,”
were reversely recoded in this study (0 = yes, 1 = no). Depression was assessed by the unweighted sum of the 8
binary items, ranging from 0 to 8, with higher score indicating higher levels of depression. Perceived everyday
discrimination was measured by a six-item scale. Participants were asked to indicate how often they experienced the
following things, “You are treated with less courtesy or respect than other people,” “You receive poorer service than
other people at restaurants or stores,” “People act as if they think you are not smart,” “People as if they are afraid
of you,” “You are threatened or harassed,” and “You receive poorer service or treatment than other people from
doctors or hospitals.” Responses to these items were reversely recoded (1 = never, 2 = less than once a year, 3 = a
few times a year, 4 = a few times a month, 5 = at least once a week, and 6 = almost every day). Perceived everyday
discrimination was assessed by the average of six items, ranging from 1 to 6, with higher scores indicating higher
levels of discrimination. Cognitive functioning was measured by a reduced version of the Telephone Interview for
Cognitive Status (TIC) scale (Brandt, Spencer, and Folstein, 1988). Cognitive functioning is a composite score of
immediate (0-10) and delayed word recall (0-10), serial 7s (0-5), backwards counting (0-2), date naming (month,
day, year, day of week; 0-4), object naming (scissors and cactus; 0-2), naming the President (0-1), and Vice President
of the United States (0-1). Cognitive functioning ranged from 0 to 35 with higher scores indicating higher cognitive
functioning.

2.2.4. Socioeconomic factors
Education, marital status, retirement status, and poverty were included as socioeconomic factors for internet use in this
study (Ang, Lim, and Malhotra, 2020; Chang, McAllister, and McCaslin, 2015; Choi and DiNitto, 2013). Education
was a continuous variable and measured as years of education. Marital status (0 = divorced, widowed, never married, or
others, 1 = married or partnered), retirement status (0 = not retired or partially retired, 1 = completely retired), and living
in poverty (0 = no, 1 = yes) were measured dichotomously.

International Journal of Population Studies | 2020, Volume 6, Issue 2 29