Taiwanese adolescents' perceptions and attitudes regarding the Internet: exploring gender differences

Adolescence, Winter, 2004 by Chin-Chung Tsai, Chia-Ching Lin

A review of the literature indicated the following: (1) Studies related to computers or the Internet focused mainly on college students or adults; not many studies involved adolescents as the target population. (2) More studies assessed attitudes toward computers, but only a few focused specifically on the Internet. (3) Little research has explored perceptions of the Internet. The present study stresses the belief that perceptions, similar to attitudes, are also important as a guide to Internet-related behaviors. (4) The study views Internet self-efficacy as a part of attitudes toward the Internet; very few studies have investigated adolescents' Internet self-efficacy. (5) Since it seems that the gender difference regarding computer-related attitudes has gradually lessened, the present study investigated the following questions: (1) Are there gender differences in adolescents' perceptions of the Internet? (2) Are there gender differences in adolescents' attitudes (and self-efficacy) regarding the Internet?

Subjects

The subjects in this study were 636 high school adolescents (16 to 18 years old). These students attended five high schools from different demographic areas of Taiwan; 327 are males and 309 are females.

Instrument

The study utilized a questionnaire to assess adolescents' perceptions and attitudes toward the Internet. The questionnaire included 33 items that were scored on a 6-point Likert scale ("strongly agree," "agree," "somewhat agree," "somewhat disagree," "disagree," and "strongly disagree"). These items could be divided into three major parts. The first part, consisting of 4 items, investigated adolescents' perceptions of the Internet. The second part, consisting of 20 items, assessed their general attitudes toward the Internet. The third part, consisting of 9 items, explored their Internet self-efficacy. In this study, Internet self-efficacy was viewed as one component of Internet attitudes. A description of these items is presented below.

The first four items were based upon the research of Tsai (2004), which classified adolescents' perceptions of the Internet into categories "technology," "tool," "toy," and "tour." The purpose was to explore adolescents' agreement about their perceptions of these categories. The items for this part were: (1) "For me, the Internet is perceived as a technology." (2) "For me, the Internet is perceived as a tool." (3) "For me, the Internet is perceived as a toy." (4) "For me, the Internet is perceived as a tour."

The second part of the questionnaire also included 20 items based on an Internet Attitude Scale for high school students, developed by Tsai et al. (2001). These items were divided into four subscales; perceived usefulness, affection, perceived control, and behavior (5 items for each subscale). In this study, the reliability coefficients (Cronbach's alpha) were adequate for all four subscales (.72, .79, .73, and .64, respectively). A short description of the subscales is as follows: (1) The perceived usefulness subscale measures adolescents' perceptions of the positive impact of the Internet on individuals and society, such as "The internet helps me acquire relevant information I need." (2) The affection subscale assesses adolescents' feelings and anxiety when using the Internet, such as "The Internet makes me uncomfortable," or "I hesitate to use the Internet in case I look stupid." (3) The perceived control subscale measures adolescents' confidence about the independent control of the use of the Internet (e.g., "I do not need someone to tell me the best way to use the Internet"). (4) The behavior subscale explores adolescents' actual use of the Internet, such as "I use the Internet regularly throughout school."