Distribution of personality, individual characteristics and internet usage in Swedish older adults

• Objectives: This paper investigated factors associated with internet usage in the Swedish older adults ranging in age from 60 to 96. Personality traits and individual characteristics have been previously noted to influence internet usage, where older adults have not been the focus population. In this study the relationships between personality, individual characteristics and internet usage were investigated. Methods: A descriptive analysis of the personality tests of a total of 1402 subjects included in the Swedish National Study on Aging and Care (SNAC) was conducted. Three variables were controlled for: sex, age and education. Descriptive statistics, Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis tests, chi square tests and a logistic regression were used in order to detect the relationships with internet usage. Results: Men differ significantly from women in the personality traits analysis. Those with higher education were more open and neuroticism was lower in the oldest older adults. Internet usage declined significantly with age and those with middle to higher education were using the internet the most. No other associations with internet use were found Conclusion: Personality traits and individual characteristics do not seem to influence the Swedish older adult and their internet usage. What one needs to account for is the age and education of the person. The more educated and the youngest cohorts were using the internet more frequently.

• Både personlighet och individuella karakteristik har ingen inflyta på äldres internet användning. Ålder och utbildning har det.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Datavetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Computer Sciences (hsv//eng)

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Hälsovetenskap -- Folkhälsovetenskap, global hälsa, socialmedicin och epidemiologi (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Health Sciences -- Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

third and fourth age

internet usage

sense of coherence

five factor model

life satisfaction

Psykologi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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