In these studies, some racial lags in home IT access emerged that could not be accounted for by level of income or education. Differences in levels of home computer ownership between blacks and whites were statistically significant after controlling for level of education, and income alone could not account for extreme disparities between white and black students with respect to computer ownership. A few other factors are suggested by the empirical research as important influences on IT adoption dynamics. In general, families with children and married parents were more likely to adopt PCs or link to the Internet than single people, couples without children, single heads of household, or households headed by very young adults. Finally, there appears to be a gender difference in the decision to purchase a home computer.
Households can sign up for Internet access and then subsequently drop or switch service providers.
These data thus reflect snapshots of households connected to the Internet at the point in time when the survey was administered. This pattern holds across all kinds of household products, technologies, and innovations.