Computer use for entertainment among young men and women in Qatar: Evidence from a national sample

• There is a current trend of home computer use exceeding use at school.
• There are significant gender differences in home computer use.
• We discuss gender-based differences in computer use for entertainment in special context of Qatar.

In this study we examined the home use of computers for entertainment among 15-year old students in Qatar using a national sample of 8601 students. Scale and item level analyses were performed in univariate and multivariate contexts in order to understand the relationship of computer use with computer availability, internet availability, and demographic differences such as gender and socioeconomic status. Our results suggested significant differences in mean entertainment use across gender and categories of computer and internet availability, while computer use and socioeconomic status were found to be moderately correlated. Implications were discussed.