Older Minority Immigrants' Digital Technology Use: Does English Proficiency Play As a Barrier?

Background and Purpose. Recently, digital disparity has been diminishing across racial and age groups. Older adults have been slower than younger adults to embrace technology; however, their rate of use has been increasing rapidly, from 14% in 2000 to 58% in 2015 (Perrin & Duggan, 2015). The gap between race and ethnicity in digital disparities is also narrowing.  Since 2000, English-speaking Asian-Americans have consistently had higher rates of Internet usage at 97% in 2014, compared to non-Latino Whites with 85%, Latino Americans with 81%, and African Americans with 78% (Perrin & Duggan, 2015). However, the same study reported that older immigrants with limited English proficiency does not benefit from this trend and found to be the most vulnerable population that experiences disadvantages of technology adoption. The current study aims to examine 1) level of older minority immigrants’ digital technology use as compared to non-Latino older White Americans, and 2) how English proficiency plays a barrier in older minority immigrants’ digital technology adoption.

Methods. Using data from the 2011 National Health and Aging Trends Study (n=5,185), we performed logistic regression analyses of digital technology use in three domains: 1) using emailing or texting, 2) dealing with personal tasks (e.g. grocery shopping), and 3) health information search (e.g. searching medical information). For the subsample analysis of immigrants (n=557), English proficiency was added as an independent predictor while controlling for other relevant variables.

Results. Compared to non-Latino older White Americans, Asian and Latino older immigrants were less likely to email and text. Latino older immigrants were also less likely to use the Internet for dealing with personal tasks, and health information search than their White counterpart. Among older minority immigrants, English proficiency was identified as a significant predictor for using emailing or texting, conducting personal tasks, and health information search.

Conclusion and Implications. English proficiency was identified as a significant barrier to communicating with others through emailing or texting, handling personal tasks, and accessing health information among older minority immigrants. Efforts to develop linguistically appropriate digital technology programs are urgently needed to enhance digital technology use in older minority immigrants with limited English proficiency as well as community-based education programs that are designed to improve this immigrant population’s technology adoption.