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

Abstract

Objectives: This article 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 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.

Keywords:

• third and fourth age
• internet usage
• sense of coherence
• five factor model
• life satisfaction

Acknowledgements

The SNAC (www.snac.org) is financially supported by the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs, Sweden and the participating County Councils, Municipalities and University Departments. We are grateful to the staff and participants of SNAC Blekinge for their help and interest in the study. The authors also thank Donna Perry, in Cambridge, for proofreading the English of this manuscript.