ONLINE HEALTH INFORMATION SEEKING DURING ADOLESCENCE: A QUANTITATIVE STUDY REGARDING ROMANIAN TEENAGERS

Abstract

How Internet is used by individuals from different age groups to keep their health in check has become one of the major issue of both academic researchers and policy makers. The topic derives mainly from 2000-2014 data which converge towards an Internet accessing pattern as source of information regarding health. Previous studies showed that teenagers are the main consumers of the Internet and they often start surfing for online health concerns on social media (Facebook, Twitter) and popular engines (Google, Yahoo). The current paper describes how Romanian teenagers (N=161, aged 14-19) browse for online topics to keep their health in check. Based on a questionnaire, the data revealed that the Internet is used to a certain extent by more than a third of the respondents for health topics and over half of them consider that the health related information helped them to achieve a good trim. Overall, the research outcomes showed that the adolescents seem less interested in using Internet for health information and sometimes challenge the credibility of online health content.