Skip to main content

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of participants at time 1 and follow up

From: Predictive modelling: parents’ decision making to use online child health information to increase their understanding and/or diagnose or treat their child’s health

  

Time 1

Follow-up

(N= 391) %

(N= 187) %

Parent sex (T1 n = 391; T2 n = 187)

Male

4.9

2.7

Female

95.1

97.3

Age of parent (T1 n = 389; T2 n = 187)

18-25

3.8

3.7

26-35

51.9

47.6

36-45

40.3

46.0

46-55

3.8

2.7

Over 55

0.2

0.0

Number of children (T1 n = 390; T2 n = 187)

1 child

33.1

34.2

2 children

46.2

44.4

3 children

14.9

13.9

4 or more children

5.8

7.5

Age of child 1± (T1 n = 389; T2 n = 186)

Age 1

0.0

0.0

Age 2

3.1

0.0

Age 3

12.3

15.6

Age 4

11.0

11.3

Age 5

10.7

12.4

Age 6

8.4

8.6

Age 7

10.7

9.1

Age 8

8.4

7.5

Age 9

7.7

5.9

Age 10

4.6

4.8

Age of child 2± (T1 n = 257; T2 n = 118)

Age 1

0.0

0.0

Age 2

9.3

11.0

Age 3

12.8

12.7

Age 4

13.6

12.7

Age 5

12.1

11.9

Age 6

10.9

6.8

Age 7

8.9

10.2

Age 8

8.6

6.8

Age 9

6.2

7.6

Age 10

5.8

5.9

zAge of child 3± (T1 n = 79; T2 n = 39)

Age 1

0.0

0.0

Age 2

13.9

15.4

Age 3

11.4

10.3

Age 4

19.0

15.4

Age 5

13.9

17.9

Age 6

12.7

10.3

Age 7

5.1

2.6

Age 8

5.1

7.7

Age 9

3.8

5.1

Age 10

2.5

2.6

Age of child 4 or more± (T1 n = 30; T2 n = 14)

Age 1

3.0

7.1

Age 2

10.0

7.1

Age 3

13.3

7.1

Age 4

20.0

28.6

Age 5

6.6

14.3

Age 6

13.3

0.0

Age 7

3.0

7.1

Age 8

10.0

14.3

Age 9

0.0

0.0

Age 10

6.6

0.0

Relationship status (T1 n = 390; T2 n = 186)

Single

3.1

3.2

In a relationship

1.8

2.1

Married

75.8

73.7

Defacto

14.4

15.1

Divorced/separated

4.4

5.4

Widowed

0.5

0.5

Location (T1 n = 342; T2 n = 187)

Northern Territory

0.3

0.5

Australian Capital Territory

1.5

2.1

New South Wales

9.3

8.6

Victoria

4.4

3.7

Queensland

79.2

77.0

South Australia

3.5

4.8

Western Australia

0.6

2.2

Tasmania

1.2

1.1

Employment status (T1 n = 388)

Full-time

23.7

-

Not full-time

76.3

-

Education status (T1 n = 387)

University educated

56.1

-

Not university educated

43.9

-

Medical background†§ (T1 n = 387)

Yes

19.9

-

No

80.1

-

Hours Internet use per week (T1 n = 385; T2 n = 184)

Mean

15.74

26.32

SD

12.71

32.11

Median

12.00

15.00

Mode

10.00

10.00

Range

1-100

1-200

  1. Measured at Time 1 only.
  2. Children were aged between 6 months and 10 years. An upper age limit of 10 years was used because children aged 10 years and older may search online for health information themselves (Greenfield and Yan, 2006).
  3. ± Percentages do not add up to 100% due to parents indicting that they also had other children older than 10 years of age.
  4. § The 77 Participants with a yes response for medical background were those who self-identified their occupation as a nurse (63.6%), midwife (6.5%), medic (soldier) (1.3%), pharmacist (2.6%), dietician (3.9%), nutritionist (2.6%), optometrist (1.3%), physiotherapist (3.9%), occupational therapist (2.6%), radiographer (1.3%), medical scientist (2.6%), or other health professional (7.8%).
  5. T1 = Time 1; T2 = Time 2 (follow up).