The Role of Family as a Source of Health Information Among College Students.

The internet has increasingly become a major source of health information, especially for college-age adults, who spend a significant amount of time online. This article investigates sources used by US college students to acquire health information. College students aged 18–25 years old (n = 189) fr...

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Publicado en:Journal of Community Health Vol. 50; no. 4; pp. 613 - 623
Autores principales: Cohen, Karthika S., Fallik, Dawn, Cappola, Anne R.
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Springer Nature Aug2025
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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          Cohen, Karthika S.
          Fallik, Dawn
          Cappola, Anne R.
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          https://ror.org/00b30xv10 Penn Medical Communication Research Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Civic Center Blvd, Bldg 521, 19014, Philadelphia, PA, USA
          https://ror.org/01sbq1a82 University of Delaware, Newark, DE, USA
          https://ror.org/00b30xv10 Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism, Department of Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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        United States
        Parents
        Social media
        Mental health
        Health
        Family roles
        Information resources
        Internet
        Influenza
        Communication
        College students
        Access to information
        Social stigma
        Research funding
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        Vaccines
        Data analysis software
        COVID-19
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          Parents
          Social media
          Mental health
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          Information resources
          Internet
          Influenza
          Communication
          College students
          Access to information
          Social stigma
          United States
          Wired Telecommunications Carriers
          Internet Publishing and Broadcasting and Web Search Portals
          Offices of Mental Health Practitioners (except Physicians)
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      keyword:
        Health communication
        Health information
        Health information Sources
        Medical and Health Sciences Public Health and Health Services
        Medical communication
        Health communication
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        Medical and Health Sciences Public Health and Health Services
        Medical communication
      ab: The internet has increasingly become a major source of health information, especially for college-age adults, who spend a significant amount of time online. This article investigates sources used by US college students to acquire health information. College students aged 18–25 years old (n = 189) from 18 colleges were surveyed between November 2022 and February 2023. The survey was conducted using the online survey platform SurveyMonkey. Participants were asked to select their main sources of health information under three different categories: general medical, mental health, and Covid-19 related information. Survey data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel. The survey found that parents/guardians, the internet, and medical providers were the top information sources in each category. Although previous surveys have shown that the internet is the main source of health information for most adults, when asked about their primary source of information, college-age adults reported predominantly relying on family for general medical information. However, they turned to online sources for mental health information, with Instagram as the top social media resource. The internet was the primary source for Covid-19 information. These data suggest that including parents in health messaging for college- age adults could help with dissemination of health information to this age group particularly when addressing general medical information such as vaccines, medical care and seasonal illnesses like flu. They also suggest that this group seeks alternative sources—like peers and social media— for topics that have associated stigma, such as mental health. Providing shareable resources with mental health information through college communication programs and networks may help disseminate accurate information to students.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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