Getting a Second Opinion: Social Capital, Digital Inequalities, and Health Information Repertoires Wenhong Chen Department of Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin, 2504 Whitis Avenue Stop A0800, Austin, TX 78712-1067. E-mail: wenhong.chen@austin.utexas.edu Kye-Hyoung Lee Department of Educational Administration, The University of Texas at Austin, 1912 Speedway D5400, Austin, TX 78712-1604. E-mail: kyelee@mail.utexas.edu Joseph D. Straubhaar and Jeremiah Spence Department of Radio-Television-Film, University of Texas at Austin, 2504 Whitis Avenue Stop A0800, Austin, TX 78712-1067. E-mail: jdstraubhaar@austin.utexas.edu; jeremiah.spence@gmail.com This research adopts a repertoire approach to examine the concept of a health information repertoire defined as a set of sources through which people get health information. Drawing on a random sample survey in Austin, TX, it borrows the concepts of cultural omni- vores and univores to investigate how health informa- tion repertoire are related to social capital and digital inequalities. Results demonstrate that both the size and the composition of health information repertoires vary by social and digital connectivity. People with greater social capital have a larger repertoire and are less likely to be univores dependent on the Internet or interpersonal contacts. People with Internet access have a larger repertoire and are less likely to be uni- vores dependent on television. More skilled Internet users are less likely to be univores dependent on inter- personal contacts, whereas frequent Internet users are more likely to be omnivores with a four-channel reper- toire including the Internet, interpersonal contacts, television, and newspaper. The positive relationship between social capital and repertoire size is stronger among less-skilled Internet users. There are significant variations in health information repertoires in terms of media access and sociodemographic characteristics. Scholarly and practical implications are discussed. Introduction People acquire health information from a variety of sources, such as interpersonal communication, the Internet, and traditional mass media, which in turn can affect their health literacy and health decision-making (Bishop, Tidline, Shoemaker, & Salela, 1999; Bright, Fleisher, Thomsen, Morra, Marcus, & Gehring, 2005; Chinn, 2011; Nagler et al., 2010; Rutten, Moser, Beckjord, Hesse, & Croyle, 2007). As information from interpersonal and mediated sources can have independent positive impacts on health behaviors (Ramírez et al., 2013), a better understanding of the health information repertoire—the set of sources through which people get health information—has scholarly and practical importance. Adopting a repertoire approach, this research fills critical gaps in the growing literature on health information behav- iors. First, there has been a striking lack of research on the health information repertoire (O’Keefe, Boyd, & Brown, 1998). Second, despite the growing attention to online health information searches, the literature remains underde- veloped on how the information repertoire—in general or health specific—is related to social capital and digital inequalities (Anker, Reinhart, & Feeley, 2011; Savolainen, 1995; Song & Chang, 2012). Third, the literature has focused on active search, although casual social encounters or media exposure allows people to gain information unin- tentionally (Case, 2012; Dutta-Bergman, 2004; Sheldrick Ross, 1999). Drawing on a random sample survey in Austin, TX, this research focused on both the size and the composition of the health information repertoire. Borrowing from the theo- retical concepts of cultural omnivores and univores (Bennett & Silva, 2011; Peterson & Kern, 1996), people with a rep- ertoire of multiple health information sources are defined as health information omnivores and people dependent on a Received June 2, 2013; revised September 8, 2013; accepted September 9, 2013 © 2014 ASIS&T • Published online 30 April 2014 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI: 10.1002/asi.23130 JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR INFORMATION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, 65(12):2552–2563, 2014