High School Students' Computer Attitudes and Attributions

Abstract

This research examines gender and ethnic group differences in 171 high school students' computer attitudes and computer attributions. Preliminary data analyses indicated no gender or ethnic group differences in semesters of high school computer courses completed, including those currently enrolled in, or in semesters of planned enrollment in high school computer courses. The data were analyzed using four MANOVAs, and the results indicated no significant differences in the eight measures of computer attributions due to ethnic group membership. However, significant differences due to gender were found. The results indicated that compared to male high school students, female students made attributions related to computers and had computer attitudes that were generally less likely to motivate them to study and use computers. Furthermore, the ethnic minority high school students also had less positive computer attitudes than did the White students.