After all, is home computer use associated to the decrease of school failure? Outcomes from a longitudinal study

Abstract

This paper explores the association between school failure and home computer use, among the 5.249 members of the longitudinal study “Cohorte de nacimiento Pelotas 1993”, being held in this Southern Brazilian city. Data were collected at ages 11, 15 and 18 and analyzed through the use of the following statistical tests: Chi-square (for the gross analyses) and Poisson Regression (for the multivariate analysis, adjusted for sex, maternal education and socioeconomic index). Computer use was associated with a lower incidence of failure in every age, when compared to no use, both in the gross and the multivariate analyses. Likewise, the use of computers at each age resulted in lower failure rates at later ages. The longitudinal study allowed us to consider temporality in the analyses, identifying a possible sensitive period – up to 11 years of age – in which the use of the equipment was associated with lower school failure, at that and at the other analyzed ages.

Domestic computer use; Grade failure; Longitudinal study