GENDER-ROLES, COMPUTER ATTITUDES, AND DYADIC COMPUTER INTERACTION PERFORMANCE IN COLLEGE-STUDENTS

Females tend to score lower than males on measures of computer aptitud e and attitudes. This study examined the potential effects of several mediating factors, sex of experimenter, sex of experimental partner, s ex typing (Bem Sex Role Inventory score), and level of past experience , on a computer interaction task involving a dyad College students, dr awn from a primarily white college population, after completing paper- and-pencil measures assessing computer experience, computer attitudes, and gender roles, participated in a computer task involving drawing u p to ten prescribed geometric patterns on a computer screen. Research assistants recorded the number of correctly completed patterns and vid eotaped participant interaction through a arte-way mirror Males report ed experiencing more computer involvement than females. For males, pas t computer experience and masculinity were correlated with more positi ve computer attitude scores. For females, only past computer experienc e related to more positive computer attitude scores. Analyses of the c omputer interaction variable indicated that participants asked male re search assistants significantly more questions than female research as sistants. Several interaction effects were also found.