Home Computer Use and Child Development

Hyun Sik Kim, University of Wisconsin at Madison

What would happen to the developmental domains if a home computer became available when it had not been? Would there be dose-response function of home computer usage? Conversely, what would happen if once available home computer became no more available? To provide answers to those questions, we have analyzed ECLS-K using the inverse-probability-of-treatment weight estimator and OLS regression framework. We find, among other things, that 1) newly available home computer tends to increase favorable outcomes in all domains of development but loss of home computer availability is likely to decrease favorable outcomes in reading test scores and externalizing behavior problem and 2) those children who used the newly available home computer “3-6 times a week” are likely to benefit more than those children who used it “every day” while the most affected children by the loss of home computer are those who had used the home computer most frequently.