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Information and Communication Technology, Well-Being, and Ethnicity
Kanayo Umeh1, Michael Mackay2, Chris Mulhearn3
11 School of Natural Sciences and Psychology, Liverpool John Moores University , Liverpool, United Kingdom .
Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking
|January 23, 2016
Summary
Ethnicity impacts how information and communication technology (ICT) use affects well-being. Unfavorable health associations with mobile phone use were mainly seen in Caucasian individuals, unlike ethnic minorities.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Sociology
- Digital Divide Research
Background:
- The link between information and communication technology (ICT) use and well-being is a significant public health concern.
- The role of the ethnic digital divide in this relationship is not well understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate how ethnicity moderates the association between ICT uptake (mobile phone, computer, TV) and well-being indicators.
- To examine the influence of ethnicity on long-term health (chronic illness), cigarette smoking, and self-perceived health.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of archived U.K. Office for National Statistics household survey data (2007-2011).
- Inclusion of 97,697 participant records with control for sociodemographic confounders.
Main Results:
- Mobile phone dependence showed poorer health perceptions in Caucasian women but favorable appraisals in ethnic minority females (OR = 0.51).
- Mobile phone uptake correlated with increased smoking risk in Caucasian men versus ethnic minority males (OR = 1.68).
- Ethnicity did not affect the relationship between ICT uptake and long-term health.
Conclusions:
- Ethnicity plays a role in the association between mobile phone use and well-being.
- Negative health associations with mobile phone use were predominantly observed in Caucasian individuals.
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