FAMILY PATTERNS OF USE AND PARENTAL ATTITUDES TOWARD HOME ELECTRONIC VIDEO GAMES AND FUTURE TECHNOLOGY

Scope of Study. The purpose of this study was to examine whether ownership of a home electronic video game is associated with parents' attitudes toward future technology and parents' attitudes toward home electronic video games. An additional purpose was to determine the pattern of use of home electronic video games among owner families. Two attitude scales, Attitudes Toward Future Technology Scale and Attitudes Toward Home Electronic Video Games Scale, were constructed. An interview schedule and Pattern of Use Log were also developed. The sample was composed of a random selection of ten percent of the kindergarten through seventh grade population in Stillwater, Oklahoma Public Schools. The parent of the selected target child was interviewed by telephone. Owners of home electronic video games were asked to have their family complete a Pattern of Use Log for a period of one week. The t-test was used to determine differences between owners and nonowners on the total attitude scores and selected family characteristics. The Pattern of Use Log was analyzed descriptively.;Findings and Conclusions. The reliability of the Attitudes Toward Future Technology Scale resulted in an alpha of .69; the reliability of the Attitudes Toward Home Electronic Video Games was an alpha of .89. Ninety-six percent of the parents contacted completed the attitude scales and interview questions. The findings indicated that there was a significant difference between owners of home electronic video games and nonowners on their Attitudes Toward Home Electronic Video Games and on the family characteristics of age of the target child and number of children in the family unit. In families that own home electronic video games the target child was older and these families also had fewer children. No significant difference was found between owners' and nonowners' Attitudes Toward Future Technology and the family characteristics of sex of the target child and social class position, as measured by the breadwinner's occupation and education. The subgroup of owner families that returned the Pattern of Use Log had a wide range of time spent playing video games with an average of two hours and sixteen minutes per week. In this sample, home video game playing was primarily a solitary activity and children were the main players.