Socio-economic factors affecting home internet usage patterns in Central Queensland

This paper aims to identify associations between demographic and socioeconomic factors and home Internet use patterns in the Central Queensland region, Australia. It found that people living outside of Rockhampton, male, those with higher education levels, married, those with higher income level, or fully employed tend to use Internet more for work at home; people living in Rockhampton, those within the youngest group (18-24), or with secondary education level or higher tend to use Internet more for education; people living in Rockhampton, those within the youngest group, never married, or unemployed tend to use Internet more for entertainment; males, people within the youngest group, those with lower family income, or either semi-employed or unemployed tend to use Internet more for information search; females, people with no children, or lower family income tend to use Internet more for communication through email; married people tend to use Internet for financial management; and people within 25-39 year old group, with higher education levels tend to use Internet more for on- line purchases. It is suggested that further research should be conducted to monitor the youngest age group in home Internet use for entertainment and information search.