Open AccessSocial media use for health, cultural characteristics, and demographics: A survey of Pakistani millennials
Author(s) -
Muhammad Ittefaq,
Hyunjin Seo,
Mauryne Abwao,
Annalise Baines
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
digital health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 8
ISSN - 2055-2076
DOI - 10.1177/20552076221089454
Subject(s) - hofstede's cultural dimensions theory , social media , collectivism , masculinity , psychology , uncertainty avoidance , health information national trends survey , gratification , social psychology , perception , health information , sociology , health care , political science , neuroscience , individualism , psychoanalysis , law
Objective Over the last 10 years, an extensive body of literature has been produced to investigate the role of social media in health. However, little is known about the impact of cultural characteristics (e.g. masculinity, collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance) on social media use regarding health-related information, especially in developing countries like Pakistan. The present study employed Hofstede’s cultural characteristics framework and uses and gratification theory to examine how Pakistani millennials’ demographic attributes and cultural characteristics are associated with their social media use for health-related information.Method An online survey of 722 people aged 18–35 living in Pakistan was conducted in spring 2020 to examine the intensity and frequency of social media use, health-related use of social media, cultural characteristics, and demographic attributes.Results Results showed that cultural characteristics—masculinity, collectivism, and uncertainty avoidance—are strongly related with their perceptions of social media importance, usefulness, and perceived ease of access for health-related information even when controlling for demographic characteristics. Age and gender are also significantly associated with their perspectives on social media for health.Conclusions We found that communicating and sharing information is the most important motivation for Pakistani millennials to use social media in the area of health with WhatsApp and YouTube being most preferred social media sites for health-related issues.