Digital Resilience and Psychological Wellbeing of Italian Higher Education Students: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic has increased the use of technology in the educational field. While previous literature has demonstrated the benefits of using technology in educational environments, the risks related to problematic digital behaviors have been less investigated. Digital resilience represents a protective factor for students’ learning outcomes and emotional wellbeing. The main aim of this study was to explore Italian university students’ digital resilience levels and their psychological wellbeing in terms of stress and psychological resilience. 94 students (F=57.4%) aged 19-57 (M=31.11, SD=9.04) completed an ad-hoc questionnaire on digital resilience which included the Perceived Stress Scale, the KOP-26, and the Brief Resilience Scale. Descriptive statistics, item analysis, and bivariate correlations were performed. Results showed that Italian students reported higher levels of stress (M=21.53, SD=6.92) than the Italian normative sample. In addition to this, they perceived good levels of both psychological and digital resilience: they reported being aware of potential strategies for preparing for and responding to cyber threats and how to face negative online experiences. These results could usefully inform interventions aimed at helping them to recognize and manage risks and threats when online

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“…These results are similar to those of Ragni et al (16), which indicated that Italian higher education students had a high level of digital resilience. These data are in line with previous studies from other countries.…”

“…Individuals can adapt quickly as they adjust to the digital threats and risks they face based on the situation. Similarly, Ragni et al (16) found that among students with high levels of digital resilience, about 42 percent admitted that they recovered quickly all or most of the time after facing difficulties with digital technology, and another 45 percent of respondents noted that they recovered quickly some of the time. Thus, recovery represents a person bouncing back to their normal activities, just as before the stressful event occurred (11).…”

“…Second, while digital resilience is a fundamental skill for addressing digital risk issues, many articles focus solely on the level of resilience development of a specific risk issue, such as information leakage risk ( 21 ), technological risk ( 22 ), cyberbullying ( 23 ), and so on, resulting in insufficiently comprehensive research results. Furthermore, systematic reviews ( 24 ), conceptual models ( 11 ), and qualitative studies ( 4 , 25 ) have dominated digital resilience research, and only a small minority of studies have attempted to use quantitative ( 5 , 16 , 26 ) or mixed research methods ( 22 ) to reveal the digital resilience of individuals. However, the role of demographic factors in influencing digital resilience remains to be clarified with specific analysis, and there is a need for in-depth research and an explanation of their relationship.…”

“…Reviewing the literature showed several areas for improvement in the research related to digital resilience. First of all, current research on digital resilience mainly focuses on children (13)(14)(15), elementary school students (14), college students (5,8,(16)(17)(18), minority youth (19), consumers (20), and professionals (21), to name a few. In contrast, relatively little research has been conducted on adolescents in the middle and high school cohorts as a high online risk group.…”

“…Studies are parallel to this. Ragni et al (16) found that learning knowledge and skills from negative online experiences can help them better cope with future risks encountered in cyberspace. According to the literature, these are all the main attributes of a good level of digital resilience.…”