STUDENTS’ COMPUTER USE AT HOME: A STUDY ON FAMILY ENVIRONMENT AND PARENTAL INFLUENCE

Abstract

Although parental influence on children’s development is commonly accepted as essential, the way how parents affect students’ information and communication technology (ICT) use at home needs to be explored further. This exploratory study aimed to contribute to a better understanding of parental influence on children’s computer use at home by analyzing interview data collected from parents and students from two secondary schools. The study identified five components of parental influence: parental ICT skills, parental monitoring, parental control, parental guidance and parental worries. The relationships among these components were often complex with intriguing similarities and differences among the participants. The findings suggest the existence of parental influence imbalances in regard to students’ home computer use, an aspect of the digital divide in education.