A Sense-Making Approach to Understanding Adolescents' Selection of Health Information Sources

Abstract

The authors propose that information sources are best understood as constructed by individuals in an attempt to find answers to questions of immediate relevance. Contact profiles, or patterns of source use for particular information, determine what constitutes a source for an individual. The study explores how adolescents acquire and use health information. Data analyses based on a probability sample of 200 adolescents identified nine contact profiles and supported four study hypotheses. Contact profiles differ according to health topics and are related to message sending and seeking regarding human sexuality and birth control. Adolescents with peer-media, home-oriented or multi-source contact profiles about human sexuality and birth control were more likely than others to be the peer advisors on this topic, and those with peer-media and multi-source profiles the ones more likely to be the information seekers about it. Contact profiles are also related to adolescents' health decision making capacity. Adolescents with peer-media and multi-source profiles for human sexuality and birth control information and those with home- oriented profiles for alcohol and smoking information engaged in more health decision making steps than those with other profiles. Finally, contact profiles are also related to awareness and contact with new information sources. Adolescents with peer-oriented and multi-source profiles were more likely than others to be aware of and have contacted a new peer education program in the school.