Connecting Spaces

Gender, Video Games and Computing in the Early Teens

Datos Bibliográficos

ID2363744
AutoresJennifer M Ashlock (0000-0001-9102-5286, University of Maryland, College Park, autor de correspondencia), Jennifer Ashlock (University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, MD, USA), Miodrag Stojnic (UNC System, GEAR UP NC, Chapel Hill, NC, USA), Zeynep Tufekci (0000-0002-7806-0025, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA)
Año2023
Volumen66
Número2
Páginas201-225
Fecha de publicación2023-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaSociological Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0731-1214 • E-ISSN: 1533-8673
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/07311214221125802
OpenAlexW4304609825
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas86

Informed by evidence that computing attitudes may be uniquely constructed in informal contexts and that the early teens are a key period for academic decision-making, we investigate lines of practice that connect computing skills, attitudes, and videogames. We compare the relationship between computer skill, computer efficacy, and activities associated with gaming using a data set of 3,868 children in middle school. The time that children spend gaming has very modest association with skill and efficacy. Accounting for the frequency with which children modify games, engage in social gaming activities, and the salience of gamer identity explains the gender gap in computer skill and significantly narrows the gender gap in computer efficacy. We find support for the argument that computer skill and efficacy are dependent on children connecting often isolated social contexts, a socially embedded characteristic of the digital divide

Cognitive psychology · Gender gap · Child Development and Digital Technology · Computer Science · Digital Games and Media · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology · Social Psychology