Computer use by School-Age Children: Trends, Patterns, and Predictors

Abstract

Patterns of computer use are studied based on analysis of data from the Longitudinal Study of American Youth (LSAY) in which a cohort of students and their parents were surveyed for five consecutive years. Special attention is given to students who were heavier users of computers. Heavier use is associated with high SES as well as superiority in grades. Heavier use declined as this cohort progressed from the seventh grade to high school despite increasing access to computers at home. Parents with computers at home reported that their children used computers mostly for educational purposes. Males were significantly more likely to be heavier users until the 1992 survey when the gap with females narrowed. A substantial proportion but less than half (42%) of heavier users remained more frequent users from 1988 to 1992. Analysis suggests that computer ownership and parental interest in their children using computers exerted the biggest impacts on the likelihood of being a heavier user.