Children Use PCs Most, Report Shows

Affluent and well-educated American families with school-age children were the first to buy personal computers for their homes, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released Wednesday.

The study, the first comprehensive analysis of home computer ownership and use in the United States, was based on a survey conducted in October, 1984, showing that nearly 7 million American homes then had personal computers. In the years since, a period of volatility for the young personal computer industry, home computer ownership has soared.

The Electronic Industries Assn., a trade group, estimates that by the end of 1987, about 17.6 million American homes were equipped with personal computers used by adults and students.

Although based on 3 1/2-year-old data, the Census Bureau survey provides a glimpse at how new technology gradually became a part of daily American life. The earliest buyers of personal computers tended to be families with annual incomes of at least $50,000, college-level education and at least one child enrolled in school.

Of the 221 million Americans age 3 and over in 1984, more than one in five, 21.1%, reported using computers. In homes with computers, the children were the most likely to use the machine. The survey showed that 75% of the children in homes with computers said they used them, with three out of four citing video games as a principal use.