From Computation to Communication: Adolescent Girls and the Internet

This study investigated the implications of Internet technology on\ud adolescent computer usage through an examination of sex\ud differences. Theories of adolescent personality development, a\ud survey of the social science research on gender differences in\ud computer usage and new theory on the psychology of the Internet\ud provide a context for teenagers' present Internet usage. Furthermore,\ud a critique of a study examining adolescent girls and the Internet\ud offers greater insight. A sample of adolescents' Web pages were\ud coded for a number of characteristics and some members of the\ud sample completed a questionnaire regarding their Internet and\ud computer usage. A second sample of middle-school students\ud completed the same questionnaire. Both Web page authors and the\ud comparison group reported high rates of computer usage for\ud educational, communication, and recreational purposes. Girls\ud exhibited overall proficiently in utilizing the Internet and computers\ud and boys' greater interest in computer games presented the largest\ud sex difference