Correlates of internet use among African American older adults: Gender and age differences

This study aimed to compare internet use among African American older adults by
gender and age group and investigate correlates of internet use by gender and age group. A
total of 1117 African American older adults aged over 50 from the 2016 Wave of the Health
Retirement Study were included in the study. Sequential ordinal logistic regressions were
conducted to investigate correlates of internet use among older African Americans by gender
and age group. Significant gender and age differences were identified in internet use frequency.
Gender differences on correlates were revealed: being old-old and limitations on activities of
daily living were only associated with decreased odds of more frequent internet use among
women. In addition, higher depression was only associated with reduced odds of more frequent
internet use among men. Age differences on correlates indicated that education and cognition
were the only two significant factors pertinent to internet use among the old-old. By contrast,
for young-old adults, retirement, poverty, education, cognition, and depression were also
predictive. Practitioners should consider these gender and age differences when promoting
internet use among older African Americans. The results presented in this study might also
inform the design of future gender- and age-tailored interventions.