QUALITATIVE DIFFERENCES IN COMPUTER EXPERIENCE, COMPUTER ANXIETY, ANDSTUDENTS USE OF COMPUTERS - A PATH MODEL

Biographical information (age and gender) was obtained on 180 first ye ar psychology students along with self-report measures relating to com puter use. The measures were: age of initial introduction to computers ; qualitative aspects of early computer experience (how relaxed and un pressured the experience was and the extent to which the individual ha d felt 'in control' and competent during the experience); level of com puter anxiety; current and anticipated future frequency of use of comp uters. A path model linking the above variables was proposed and teste d. Apart from gender, all of the predictor variables exerted direct an d/or indirect influences on use made (and expected to be made) of comp uters. In particular, an early introduction to computers was generally associated with a more favourable quality of initial experience, lead ing to lower anxiety and greater readiness of students to use computer s.