Gender differences in the effects of Internet usage on high school absenteeism

Considerable controversy surrounds the effects technologies such as the Internet have on human capital accumulation. We stratify a large sample of students into males and females and explore gender differences in two related questions: first, does Internet usage affect high school students’ absenteeism differently for males and females? Second, to what degree does the intensity of Internet use affect male versus female absenteeism? We utilize data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which measures educational outcomes, Internet use and a host of other correlates. Poisson regression and probit results indicate that excessive Internet use increases absenteeism for high school students and gender differences are present.

Research highlights▶ We separate a large sample of respondents into males and females. ▶ We examine if Internet use effects high school absenteeism differently for males and females. ▶ Results show that females who intensely use the Internet incur more days of absenteeism than do males.