Computer anxiety: the role of psychological gender

A relationship between computer anxiety (CA) and gender has been found in a number of studies, with females generally scoring higher than males. Findings are variable, however, and biological gender does not adequately account for this variability. It is possible that psychological gender, in conjunction with the concept of masculinisation, may provide a more satisfactory account. Measures of CA and psychological gender were obtained for 138 first year undergraduate students in two departments, one in the Arts and Social Sciences faculty and one in the Science and Engineering faculty. Partial correlations revealed that psychological gender predicted CA with biological gender and faculty controlled, whereas biological gender failed to predict CA with psychological gender and faculty controlled. Results were discussed in relation to Bem’s theory of psychological gender.