| The primary purpose of the study was to investigate community college students' Internet use. In addition, emotional intelligence levels, Holland's academic environments, use of eyeglasses or corrective lenses, and extent of e-mail usage were determined. The study discovered the preferred locations for accessing the Internet, frequency of Internet access, the degree to which the Internet is used for learning purposes, and the characteristics of those who had Internet connectivity at home.; The Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale (Mayer, Salovey & Caruso, 1997) and the researcher-created Student Information and Internet Use Survey were selected as the instruments for this study. The Multifactor Emotional Intelligence Scale is an ability measure with four subscales: identifying emotions, understanding emotions, using emotions, and managing emotions. The 46-item Student Information and Internet Use Survey is a self-report instrument. Both instruments were used to obtain data from the research population of 226 community college students. Responses were analyzed using Spearman's rank order correlation coefficient, Chi-Square Goodness-of-Fit Test, multivariate analysis of variance and Tukey's post hoc test.; The results of those analyses indicated that those who spent more time on e-mail had a higher emotional intelligence overall score. Additionally, the findings revealed those who spent more time online had a more positive Internet attitude and that there is an existence of a digital divide along racial lines. However, gender differences made no difference in the amount of time spent online.; Conclusion and recommendations based on the findings in this study indicated that community college students need additional emotional intelligence training. It was also recommended that community college students should continue to be encouraged to use the Internet for learning purposes. |
