Table 2.
Internet use characteristics of youth living in a Philadelphia youth homeless shelter comparing before experiencing homelessness to while experiencing homelessness.
| Characteristic | Before experiencing homelessness (N=87) | While experiencing homelessness (N=87) | P valuea | |
| Internet access frequency, n (%) |
|
|
<.001 | |
|
|
≥once/day | 69 (79) | 49 (56) |
|
|
|
<once/day | 18 (21) | 38 (44) |
|
| Amount of time spent using the internet daily, n (%) |
|
|
<.001 | |
|
|
<20 min | 8 (9) | 23 (26) |
|
|
|
20 min-1 h | 20 (23) | 32 (37) |
|
|
|
1-2 h | 10 (12) | 11 (13) |
|
|
|
>2 h | 49 (56) | 21 (24) |
|
| Access to smartphone, n (%) | 74 (85) | 57 (66) | <.001 | |
| Job searching, n (%) | 81 (93) | 75 (86) | .11 | |
| Use of social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram), n (%) | 85 (98) | 74 (85) | .01 | |
| Use of email, n (%) | 79 (91) | 72 (83) | .07 | |
| Housing searches, n (%) | 55 (63) | 52 (60) | .56 | |
| School website searches, n (%) | 55 (63) | 44 (51) | .06 | |
aP values based on unadjusted GEE regression models to account for the likely correlations of repeated measures for each participant.