Americans' reliance on interpersonal and media sources is associated with cancer screening and prevention behavior

Americans are increasingly active consumers of health care, tapping a range of sources—such as family and friends, television, and the Internet—to inform health-related decisions. There is, however, little research on whether individuals tend to rely on specific sources and, if they do, what effects reliance has on health-related behaviors. We conducted a nationally representative survey of adults ages 40 to 70 (n=2,489). Respondents indicated their use of interpersonal and media sources for cancer-related screening behaviors (e.g., colonoscopy, Prostate-Specific Antigen (PSA) testing, mammography), as well as prevention behaviors (e.g., exercise, fruit and vegetable consumption, controlling diet to lose weight). Results showed that people tend to be consistent in their use of particular sources for health-related information. For example, on average, people who turned to family and friends for information on screening and prevention behaviors were far more likely to use these sources for other health-related behaviors, controlling for general information seeking tendency (OR=12.17, 95%CI=11.41-12.93). We used logistic regression to predict respondents' screening and prevention behavior, controlling for age, gender, and education. Overall, people who relied on interpersonal and media sources were more likely to engage in screening and prevention behaviors. For example, people who consistently relied on family and friends were more likely to have colonoscopies (OR=1.74, 95%CI=1.47-2.01), to exercise (OR=1.80, 95%CI=1.59-2.01), and to consume fruit and vegetables (OR=2.08, 95%CI=1.87-2.29). The same was true for people who relied on television and radio: (OR=1.48, 95%CI=1.16-1.80), (OR=1.95, 95%CI=1.70-2.20), and (OR=2.13, 95%CI=1.89-2.38), respectively. Implications for public health campaign designers are discussed.