Measures of Information Seeking: A Validation Study in the Context of Nonmedical Drug Use Behaviors

ABSTRACT

Health information is readily available and easily obtained from a variety of media and interpersonal sources. Although several studies have examined health-related information seeking, a comprehensive validation study of this measure is still needed. This study uses a longitudinal cohort study of Israeli university students (N = 800) aged 18–30, and a cross-sectional sample of U.S. college students (N = 498) to validate measures of information seeking about the nonmedical use of two drugs (marijuana and amphetamines) from a range of media and interpersonal sources. Information seeking measures for both drug types showed good convergent, discriminant, nomological, and test-retest validity. Results offer support for the use of these measures as valid indicators of the constructs for which they were designed. Implications for the use of these measures in future research are discussed.

Funding

This research was supported by a European Union Marie Curie Career Reintegration grant (SSBD, FP7 333605), by the University of Haifa’s Department of Research, and by the Department of Communication at the College of Communication at Michigan State University.

Notes

¹ For example, nonmedical drug-related information seeking may be motivated by motivations including curiosity, boredom, attempts to reinforce existing positive or negative attitudes toward drug use, or instrumental motivations (e.g., how to acquire or use drugs). If so, the extent to which individuals are motivated by such factors (or a combination of them) and their perceptions regarding how others view nonmedical use of drugs may alter the manner in which they report their information seeking activities.

² There was a strong positive correlation between measures of information seeking about marijuana from media sources (r = .79, p < .001) and interpersonal sources (r = .78, p < .001) across 30-days and 12 months. Similarly, measures of information seeking about amphetamines from each time point were highly correlated for media sources (r = .71, p < .001) as well as interpersonal sources (r = .84, p < .001).

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a European Union Marie Curie Career Reintegration grant (SSBD, FP7 333605), by the University of Haifa’s Department of Research, and by the Department of Communication at the College of Communication at Michigan State University.