Abstract
This research examined gender differences in Internet use and factors responsible for these differences. A sample of 630 Anglo American undergraduates completed the Student Computer and Internet Survey that contained questions about e-mail and Web use, and about potential affective and cognitive mediators of use. Based on a general model of Internet use, we predicted and found that females used e-mail more than did males, males used the Web more than did females, and females reported more computer anxiety, less computer self-efficacy, and less favorable and less stereotypic computer attitudes. Path analysis to identify mediators of gender differences in Internet use revealed that computer self-efficacy, loneliness, and depression accounted in part for gender differences, but that gender continued to have a direct effect on use after these factors were considered. Implications for realizing the democratizing potential and benefits of Internet use are discussed.
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Jackson, L.A., Ervin, K.S., Gardner, P.D. et al. Gender and the Internet: Women Communicating and Men Searching. Sex Roles 44, 363–379 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010937901821
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1010937901821