A twin study of computer anxiety in Turkish adolescents

The present study investigated computer anxiety within a sample of Turkish twins aged 10-18. A total of 185 twin-pairs participated in the study. Of the twins, 64 pairs (34.6 percent) were monozygotic (MZ) and 121 pairs (65.4 percent) were dizygotic (DZ). Of the 121 DZ twins, 54 pairs (44.63 percent) were same-sex twins and 67 pairs (55.37 percent) were opposite-sex twins. Computer anxiety was assessed using Computer Anxiety Rating Scale-Turkish Version (CARS-TV), one of the three main scales of "Measuring Technophobia Instruments" developed by Rosen and Weil. The results of paired t test comparisons showed no significant differences in MZ and same-sex DZ twin-pairs' levels of computer anxiety. On the other hand, a significant difference was found in opposite-sex DZ twin-pairs' level of computer anxiety. Interesting enough, males appeared to be more computer anxious than their female co-twins. In the present study, using Falconer's formula, heritability estimate for computer anxiety was derived from correlations based on MZ and DZ twins' mean scores on CARS-TV. The results showed that 57 percent of the variance in computer anxiety was from genetics and 41.5 percent was from nonshared environmental factors. Shared environmental influence, on the other hand, was very small and negligible. Interpretations of results and potential directions for future research are presented.