Interrelatedness of parents' educational status and internet usage

Abstract

This paper is founded on a research aimed at investigating how many students (boys and girls) use the computer and Internet in home environment, whether there are any differences between them and whether eventual differences can be related to parents' education, especially the education of the parent of the same sex. The analyzed data were collected during the international research TIMSS 2007 (the section of the questionnaire related to different aspects of home environment) From the representative sample of 2.447 eighth-grade students from 34 elementary schools in Serbia the following results were obtained: a large number of students stated that they own a computer (80% girls, 83% boys), but a considerably smaller number said that they have the Internet access (47% girls, 56.7% boys). In the structure of out-of-school activities boys play games and read about sport more than girls, while girls do their homework assignments and read books. The educational status of the parents (as separate measures) are in significant correlation with the possession of a computer, and especially with the Internet access, and the mother's educational status was in higher correlation with the Internet usage than the father's both for boys and even more so for girls. The end of the paper offers discussion on some implications of the obtained results relevant for further research and family functioning practice.

Osnovu rada čini istraživanje čiji je cilj sagledavanje koliko devojčice i dečaci (učenici), koriste kompjuter i Internet u kućnoj sredini, da li među njima postoje razlike, i da li se te razlike mogu dovesti u vezu s obrazovanjem roditelja, posebno s obrazovanjem istopolnog roditelja. Reč je o analizi podataka prikupljenih tokom međunarodnog istraživanja TIMSS 2007 (korišćenje dela upitnika za učenike koji se odnosio na aspekte porodične sredine). Na reprezentativnom uzorku od 2.447 učenika osmog razreda iz 34 škola u Srbiji dobijeni su sledeći rezultati: veliki broj učenika saopštava da poseduje kompjuter (80% devojčica i 83% dečaka), a znatno manji da ima Internet (47,3% devojčica i 56,7% dečaka). U strukturi vanškolskih dnevnih aktivnosti, dečaci više od devojčica igraju igrice na kompjuteru i prate sport, a devojčice više od dečaka rade domaće zadatke i čitaju knjige. Obrazovni status majke i oca (kao odvojene mere) u značajnoj su korelaciji s posedovanjem kompjutera, a posebno sa pristupom Internetu, pri čemu je obrazovni status majke u većoj korelaciji od obrazovnog statusa oca u segmentu korišćenja Interneta i kada je reč o dečacima, a još je naglašeniji kada je reč o devojčicama. Na kraju rada su razmotrene implikacije dobijenih rezultata i za dalje istraživanja, kao i za praksu porodičnog funkcionisanja.