Abstract
Academic performance occupies an important role in adolescent development. It reflects adolescents’ cognitive ability and also shapes their academic and career paths. Students who are satisfied with their school performance tend to show higher self-esteem, confidence, and motivation. Previous research has suggested that students’ problem behaviors, such as Internet Addiction (IA), and academic values, including intrinsic and utility values, could predict satisfaction with academic performance. However, the influence of IA and academic values has not been thoroughly explored in Chinese contexts where the pressure for academic success is heavy. This study examined the relationships between IA, academic values (intrinsic and utility value), and satisfaction with academic performance using two waves of data collected from secondary school students in four cities in mainland China. The matched sample included a total of 2,648 Grade 7 or 8 students (57.1% were boys with a mean age of 13.1 years at Wave 1). Participants completed the same questionnaire containing validated measures at both waves with a 1-year interval. In line with the hypotheses, multiple regression analyses showed that Wave 1 IA was a significant negative predictor of Wave 2 intrinsic value, utility value, and satisfaction with academic performance and their changes. Results of mediation analyses revealed that only intrinsic value, but not utility value, positively predicted satisfaction with academic performance. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses also showed similar findings. Two observations are concluded from the present findings: IA impaired students’ intrinsic value, utility value, and perceived satisfaction with academic performance; two aspects of academic values demonstrated different influences on satisfaction with academic performance. These findings provide implications for the promotion of academic satisfaction experienced by students and the prevention of negative effects of IA.
Highlights
The Internet has significantly changed people’s lives nowadays
Research Question 2 (RQ2) What are the concurrent and longitudinal relationships between Internet Addiction (IA) and satisfaction with academic performance? In line with studies conducted with Chinese students (Anthony et al, 2021), we proposed that IA would be negatively related to satisfaction with academic performance concurrently (Hypothesis 2a) and longitudinally (Hypothesis 2b)
IA was negatively associated with intrinsic and utility value concurrently and longitudinally (r ranged between −0.20 and −0.30, ps < 0.001), and was negatively correlated with satisfaction with academic performance at each wave
Summary
The Internet has significantly changed people’s lives nowadays. Despite the profound benefits of the Internet, the public is aware of the negative influence of its overuse of misuse on health and well-being. One common problem is Internet addiction (IA), which refers to one’s inability to control Internet use that causes social, psychological, academic, and work difficulties in life (Chou and Hsiao, 2000). Many studies have revealed that adolescents have a higher tendency to develop addictive behaviors such as playing online games or using social media in comparison to adults (Long et al, 2018). Research has revealed a relatively high prevalence of IA among Chinese adolescents. Shek et al (2008) conducted research with 6,121 Chinese primary and high school students in Hong Kong, revealing that around 20% of the respondents met the criteria for IA based on two assessment measures. The study of Tan et al (2016) involving 1,772 high school students in southern China showed that around 17.2% of participants demonstrating problematic Internet use
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