Study examines socio-ecological protective factors that build adolescents’ digital resilience to support wellbeing, using Hong Kong secondary school data.
Study Details
Context: Rapid digital growth offers opportunities and risks affecting teenage wellbeing.
Aim: Identify protective factors enhancing multifaceted digital resilience and wellbeing.
Framework: Digital Resilience Framework with coping, recovery, and learning from online risks.
Perspective: Socio-ecological, beyond individual efforts to family and school levels.
Data: 1,882 parent-child pairs and 30 school ICT coordinators; 30 Hong Kong secondary schools.
Period: July–September 2022.
Instruments: Student and parent surveys; school ICT coordinator survey.
Measures and Variables
Student/Parent surveys: Digital resilience, digital literacy, parental monitoring, parent-child relationship.
School survey: School-level digital literacy curriculum, with focus on cyberbullying prevention.
Wellbeing: Assessed in relation to online risk exposure and resilience.
Modeling: Structural equation modeling to test associations.
Key Findings
Exposure to online risks: No initial significant wellbeing differences solely by exposure.
Protective role: Digital resilience linked to improved adolescent wellbeing.
Positive associations with resilience:
Higher adolescent digital literacy.
Positive parent-child relationships.
School-based digital literacy programs, especially cyberbullying prevention.
Parental monitoring:
Significantly linked only to non-productive coping strategies.
Non-productive coping negatively associated with wellbeing.
Implications
Family and school contexts are crucial for building digital resilience.
Cyberbullying-focused curricula support resilience development.
Emphasizing digital literacy and relationship quality may enhance wellbeing more than monitoring intensity.
Publication Information
Journal: Computers in Human Behavior, Volume 155, Article 108164.
Early online date: Feb 2024; Published: Jun 2024.
DOI:
Authors: Qianqian Pan, Min Lan, Cheng Yong Tan, Sisi Tao, Qianru Liang, Nancy Law.
Affiliation: Department of Early Childhood Education (ECE).
Structured Summary
Aspect
Details
Objective
Identify protective factors for adolescents’ digital resilience and wellbeing.
Design
Surveys of students, parents, and ICT coordinators; structural equation modeling.
Sample
1,882 parent-child pairs; 30 ICT coordinators; 30 Hong Kong secondary schools.
Timeframe
July–September 2022.
Key Protective Factors
Digital literacy; positive parent-child relationship; school cyberbullying prevention programs.
Monitoring Outcome
Parental monitoring tied to non-productive coping; negative wellbeing link.
Core Result
Digital resilience enhances wellbeing beyond mere exposure to online risks.
Keywords
Digital resilience; wellbeing; adolescent; digital literacy; parent-child relationship; cyberbullying; curriculum.
Key Terms & Definitions
Digital resilience: Coping, recovery, and learning processes from online risk experiences to maintain wellbeing.
Non-productive coping strategies: Coping approaches associated with poorer wellbeing in this study.
Action Items / Next Steps
Schools: Implement and strengthen digital literacy curricula emphasizing cyberbullying prevention.
Families: Foster positive parent-child relationships to support resilience.
Programs: Prioritize interventions that build digital literacy and adaptive coping over increased monitoring.