Does Place Matter? The Effects of Concentrated Poverty on the Computer Use of Elementary Students

Abstract

For several decades, scholars have investigated technological inequality within American society. These studies have focused on individual-level predictors of computer use such as income, education, and technological skills. Although these individual-level inequities are important contributors of technological inequalities, they neglect the importance of place, including neighborhood-level factors such as median income, racial composition, and educational attainment. The purpose of this study is to address this gap in the current literature by examining neighborhood-level effects of concentrated poverty on the trajectory of computer use (the change in computer use over a one-year period). Data were collected from fourth and fifth grade classrooms from two data points in a public school district in a mid-sized city in the southeastern United States. Results indicate that measures of concentrated poverty have an influence on the trajectory of computer use among elementary students. These findings suggest that social inequalities at the neighborhood level need to be addressed to further eliminate the digital divide in computer use among elementary students.

Keywords:

• technology
• digital divide
• concentrated poverty
• neighborhood-level effects
• student computer-use trajectory

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on Contributors

Zachary R. Simoni is a postdoctoral scholar in the Division of Preventive Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His research interests lie in education and medical sociology with particular interest in the social determinants of health, the sociology of mental health, and social class.

Philip Gibson received his PhD in medical sociology from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in April 2015. As part of the Integrating Computing Across the Curriculum (ICAC) project, he has conducted extensive research on the impacts and challenges of integrating technology into instruction in inner city schools. He is currently a healthcare analyst at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama and an adjunct professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Kristi L. Stringer is a PhD candidate at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research interests include social determinants of health with a specific focus on the impact of social stigma on utilization of healthcare services among marginalized populations.

Shelia R. Cotten is professor and associate chair for research in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University. Her research examines technology use across the life course and the educational, social, and health impacts of that use. She is the editor, along with Laura Robinson, of the Emerald Series in Media and Communications. Her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

LaToya O. Coleman is a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Media and Information at Michigan State University. She recently completed her doctorate in medical sociology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research examines the role of risk and protective factors in developmental psychopathology among children and adolescents. She is also interested in the social reproduction of health and educational inequality and the social impacts of technology.