The Relationship Between Digital Competencies and Life Satisfaction of Students Across 13 Nations

• In Event: Evaluating education outcomes in: school-based nutrition interventions, life satisfaction and workforce development

Proposal

In today's world, digital competency is increasingly becoming a determinant of academic success and well-being for students. Digital competencies encompass a range of skills, including the effective use of technology for learning, communication, problem-solving, and personal development. Students with high self-efficacy in these competencies are more likely to feel confident in navigating digital environments, which can eventually positively impact their academic performance, well-being, and overall life satisfaction. However, while the importance of digital competencies is widely acknowledged, there is limited understanding of how self-efficacy in these skills correlates with life satisfaction across different domains. This proposal seeks to explore the relationship between students' self-efficacy in digital competencies and their life satisfaction, aiming to provide insights into how digital literacy and confidence can enhance students' overall quality of life. In this study, I examine the research question: What is the relationship between self-efficacy in digital competencies and students' life satisfaction?
Literature Review
The relationship between digital competencies and life satisfaction among students is an increasingly pertinent area of research, particularly in the context of the digital age where technology plays a crucial role in educational settings and personal well-being. Research indicates that digital competence is essential for students to navigate the complexities of modern education and society. For instance, it emphasizes the importance of digital literacy in enhancing student learning outcomes, suggesting that students who actively engage with digital tools are more likely to achieve meaningful academic success and, consequently, higher life satisfaction (Kim et al., 2018). Furthermore, self-efficacy in using digital media is positively correlated with life satisfaction among adolescents, indicating that confidence in digital skills can enhance overall well-being (Lee et al., 2023).
The COVID-19 pandemic has further underscored the necessity of digital competencies as educational institutions rapidly transitioned to online learning environments. The pandemic has made digital competence a critical skill for both students and educators, as it directly affects the quality of education and, by extension, students' life satisfaction (Sillat et al., 2021). The ability to effectively utilize digital tools for learning enhances academic performance and fosters a sense of achievement and fulfillment in students, contributing to their overall life satisfaction.
In conclusion, the interplay between digital competencies and life satisfaction among students is multifaceted, involving individual skills, family background, educational context, and personal attitudes. As educational systems continue to evolve in this digital era, prioritizing the development of these competencies will be crucial for fostering well-rounded, satisfied individuals.
Methods
I used the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2022 survey. PISA's target population is 15-year-old children. Unlike some other international studies that use students' grade levels, PISA specifically focuses on students who are 15 years old, with an age range from 15 years and 3 months to 16 years and 2 months at the beginning of the assessment period, with a 1-month variation allowance. These students should also be enrolled in an educational institution at grade 7 or higher.
Using two main themes of variables, I used 13 countries' datasets to see the correlation between digital competencies and students' life satisfaction. The first key theme is self-efficacy in digital competencies, which is students’ ratings of how well they can do various tasks using digital resources in 14 questions. I used each of the 14 items as a categorical variable that included four substantive response options (“I cannot do this,” “I struggle to do this on my own,” “I can do with a bit of effort,” “I can easily do this”).
Another key theme of this current study is students’ life satisfaction. I used students’ ratings of their satisfaction with different areas of their lives (e.g., “Your health”, “The neighborhood you live in”) in 10 separate questions that were scaled into four response options (“Not at all satisfied”, “Not satisfied”, “Satisfied”, “Totally satisfied”). I will also add student demographics and other related variables as covariates to those models.
I used STATA software to examine the research question using the PISA 2022 dataset. The findings include descriptive statistics and multivariate regression results. I only used 12 countries and economies where they answered student well-being surveys that included life satisfaction. I also use the final adjusted student weight variables to ensure the equation's robustness across all countries and economies.
Results
I hypothesized that self-efficacy in digital competencies would be positively related to students’ life satisfaction. However, the relationship can differ depending on the type of life satisfaction domain.
In most of the countries, based on the F statistics and p-values of multivariate regression models without covariates, all ten models are statistically significant, indicating that the independent variables collectively explain a significant amount of variance in the dependent variables. However, the R-squared values are relatively low, suggesting that the base models do not explain much of the variance in the dependent variables. This implies that I need to add covariates to the second model. Also, some dependent variables showed different explanatory power compared to others.
As the hypothesis suggested, the size of the coefficients varied by the model and country. This variation indicates that the strength of the relationships between the predictors and the outcome variables differs substantially. Most of the coefficients across countries and economies showed that there is no relationship between digital competencies and life satisfaction. However, those who showed significant relationships showed mixed results of positive and negative relationships.
Notes
During the presentation, I will use tables and graphs to provide more details about comparing different multivariate regression models and delve deeper into comparing 12 countries.
References
Kim, H., Hong, A., & Song, H. (2018). The relationships of family, perceived digital competence and attitude, and learning agility in sustainable student engagement in higher education. Sustainability, 10(12), 4635. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124635
Lee, J., Lee, G., Lee, I., & Lee, K. (2023). Digital citizenship and life satisfaction in South Korean adolescents: the moderated mediation effect of poverty. Children, 10(6), 973. https://doi.org/10.3390/children10060973
Sillat, L., Tammets, K., & Laanpere, M. (2021). Digital competence assessment methods in higher education: a systematic literature review. Education Sciences, 11(8), 402. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci11080402 4.

Author

• Sangeun Samantha Lee, The Pennsylvania State University