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Political ideology; sociodemographic factors; and social media health information engagement among U.S. adults: evidence from HINTS 2024
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DOI：10.3389/fdgth.2026.1883403.png)
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Abstract
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BackgroundSocial media platforms have become increasingly important sources of health-related information for the U.S. public. At the same time; political polarization and sociodemographic inequalities may be associated with how individuals engage with health information on digital platforms. Understanding the relationship between political ideology; socioeconomic factors; and social media health information engagement has important implications for digital public health communication and health equity.ObjectiveThis study examined associations between political ideology; sociodemographic characteristics; and multiple dimensions of social media health information engagement among U.S. adults using nationally representative Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) 2024 data.MethodsCross-sectional nationally representative data from HINTS 2024 were analyzed. Five dimensions of social media engagement were examined; including social media visitation; sharing personal content; sharing general content; interacting with others online; and watching videos on social media platforms. An overall social media engagement index was constructed using the row mean of these measures. Multivariable linear regression analyses were conducted to evaluate associations between political ideology; demographic and socioeconomic characteristics; and social media engagement behaviors.ResultsAge was consistently and negatively associated with all dimensions of social media engagement; including social media visitation (β = −0.025; p < 0.001); content sharing; online interaction; video consumption; and overall engagement. Female participants generally demonstrated higher levels of social media engagement than male participants. Hispanic participants reported significantly greater video-based engagement (β = 0.301; p < 0.001) and higher overall social media engagement (β = 0.090; p < 0.001); while non-Hispanic Asian participants demonstrated significantly greater engagement across several behaviors; including content sharing and video consumption. Higher educational attainment was consistently associated with greater overall social media engagement; particularly among individuals with bachelor's and post-baccalaureate education. Political ideology demonstrated more limited but still notable associations with engagement behaviors. Compared with very liberal participants; somewhat conservative individuals reported greater social media visitation frequency (β = 0.243; p < 0.05); while very conservative individuals demonstrated higher levels of online interaction (β = 0.159; p < 0.01) and overall social media engagement (β = 0.078; p < 0.05).ConclusionSociodemographic factors; particularly age; education; and race and ethnicity; were strongly associated with social media health information engagement among U.S. adults. Political ideology demonstrated smaller but meaningful associations with selected digital engagement behaviors. These findings highlight important digital public health disparities in how individuals engage with health-related content on social media platforms.
Keywords:
digital health
public health
health communication
digital divide
political ideology
health information
digital public health
HINTS
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