The impact of educational digitalization on life satisfaction: an empirical analysis based on PISA 2022

TL;DR

This study shows that digital education improves students' life satisfaction, especially by boosting interest and reducing anxiety, with stronger effects in younger students.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel theoretical model and empirical evidence on how educational digitalization affects life satisfaction through learning interest and anxiety.

Findings

Educational digitalization significantly improves students' life satisfaction.

Learning interest and anxiety mediate the relationship between digitalization and life satisfaction.

The effect is stronger in junior high school students compared to older students.

Abstract

The continuous and in-depth development of educational digitalization has become a key education development strategy for many countries around the world. Current research has paid considerable attention to the relationship between educational digitalization and educational outcomes, but the impact of educational digitalization on life satisfaction remains underexplored, lacking in-depth theoretical analysis and empirical evidence.

The article first constructs a theoretical model of the impact of educational digitalization on students’ life satisfaction based on relevant theories, followed by an empirical analysis. Large-scale cross-national data from PISA 2022 is used to empirically examine the direct and indirect effects of educational digitalization on students’ life satisfaction.

The results indicate a significant positive effect of educational digitalization on students’ life satisfaction. Specifically, learning interest and learning anxiety play significant mediating and chain-mediating roles in this relationship. This suggests that digitalization can enhance students’ well-being by stimulating their interest in learning and alleviating learning anxiety. Furthermore, grade level significantly moderates this effect: among junior high school students, the pathway through interest and anxiety in improving life satisfaction is more pronounced.

Educational digitalization has a direct impact on students’ life satisfaction, while interest and anxiety play mediating and chain-mediating roles in the effect of educational digitalization on life satisfaction. At the same time, grade level plays a moderating role in the impact of educational digitalization on students’ life satisfaction. This study deepens the understanding of the mechanisms by which digitalization promotes student well-being and emphasizes that strategies for digital education should focus on stimulating interest and managing emotions, while implementing differentiated interventions for students of different age groups.

Figures