African Americans, especially African American women, remain one of the most underrepresented groups in technology-based degrees and careers. However, little is known about whether gender differences permeate African American adolescents’ engagement in technology in earlier development, such as in middle and high school (ages 12–18). Drawing on an ecological and intersectional framework, we examined if African American male and female adolescents differed in technological engagement and what contextual factors affected their engagement. We hypothesized that parental encouragement would be associated with greater technological confidence in adolescents, which would be linked to more experiences with and interests in technology. Further, we investigated if these associations would vary by adolescents’ and parents’ gender. Survey data from 1041 African American parent-adolescent dyads highlighted that adolescents had less experience and interest with technical activities than with creative activities, especially among female adolescents. More parents encouraged adolescent sons but limited daughters to use technology, yet female adolescents reported greater technological confidence. Moderated mediation analyses revealed that adolescents’ technological confidence mediated the positive association between parental encouragement and adolescents’ technological engagement across all parent-adolescent dyads, but with some nuances. Our findings suggest that prospective gender studies and educational programs should consider the influences of parenting and gender on promoting African American adolescents’ technological involvement and confidence.

中文翻译：

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非裔美国男性和女性青少年在技术参与方面是否不同？：父母鼓励和青少年技术信心的影响

非裔美国人，尤其是非裔美国女性，仍然是技术类学位和职业中代表性不足的群体之一。然而，关于性别差异是否渗透到非裔美国青少年在早期发展中参与技术的情况知之甚少，例如在初中和高中（12-18 岁）。利用生态和交叉框架，我们研究了非裔美国男性和女性青少年在技术参与方面是否存在差异，以及哪些背景因素影响了他们的参与。我们假设父母的鼓励与青少年对技术的更大信心有关，而这与更多的技术经验和兴趣有关。此外，我们调查了这些关联是否会因青少年和父母的性别而异。来自 1041 名非裔美国父母和青少年的调查数据强调，与创造性活动相比，青少年对技术活动的经验和兴趣较少，尤其是在女性青少年中。更多的父母鼓励青春期的儿子但限制女儿使用技术，但女性青少年报告说对技术更有信心。适度的中介分析表明，青少年的技术信心在所有父母 - 青少年二元组中调节了父母鼓励和青少年技术参与之间的正相关，但有一些细微差别。我们的研究结果表明，前瞻性的性别研究和教育计划应该考虑育儿和性别对促进非裔美国青少年技术参与和信心的影响。