Does Using the Internet Make People More Satisfied with Their Lives? The Effects of the Internet on College Students' School Life Satisfaction

This research examined whether the Internet improves life satisfaction. The study surveyed 195 college students, and a structural model was built to explain effects of the Internet on school life satisfaction using a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In line with social cognitive theory and literature on social effects of the Internet, current data supported the hypotheses that Internet use, perceived online social support, and online social self-efficacy had direct positive impacts on school life satisfaction. Offline extroversion, online extroversion, online social self-efficacy, and online social outcome expectations influenced school life satisfaction indirectly: offline extroversion acted through social online self-efficacy and online extroversion; online social self-efficacy acted through online extroversion, online social outcome expectations, and perceived online social support; online extroversion acted through online social outcome expectations; online social outcome expectations acted through perceived online social support and Internet use. Contrary to our hypothesis, however, the path from online social outcome expectations to school life satisfaction was negative. Departing from a real-life personal characteristic (offline extroversion), the structural model represents the interactions between personal factors (social self-efficacy, social outcome expectations, social support beliefs), behavior (Internet use), and environment (the Internet) and the processes through which these interactions influence people's judgment of their life satisfaction. This study established a possible causal mechanism that links life online to an indicator of psychological well-being.

[1]  G. Albrektsen,et al.  Associations between psychosocial factors and happiness among school adolescents. , 2003, International journal of nursing practice.

[2]  Nan Zhang Hampton,et al.  Culture, Gender, Self-Efficacy, and Life Satisfaction: A Comparison between Americans and Chinese People with Spinal Cord Injuries , 2000 .

[3]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Internet paradox. A social technology that reduces social involvement and psychological well-being? , 1998, The American psychologist.

[4]  Robert E. Kraut,et al.  Communication Technology and Friendship During the Transition From High School to College , 2006, Computers, Phones, and the Internet.

[5]  T. Wills,et al.  Stress, social support, and the buffering hypothesis. , 1985, Psychological bulletin.

[6]  D. Zillmann.  Mood Management Through Communication Choices , 1988 .

[7]  R. Larsen,et al.  The Satisfaction with Life Scale , 1985, Journal of personality assessment.

[8]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[9]  I. Sarason,et al.  Social support as an individual difference variable: its stability, origins, and relational aspects , 1986 .

[10]  Peg Thoms,et al.  The relationship between self‐efficacy for participating in self‐managed work groups and the big five personality dimensions , 1996 .

[11]  M. Rutter.  Psychosocial disturbances in young people: Challenges for prevention. , 1995 .

[12]  I. Levin,et al.  An examination of the relation of individual difference variables to loneliness. , 1986, Journal of personality.

[13]  J R Nesselroade,et al.  Reporting structural equation modeling results in Psychology and Aging: some proposed guidelines. , 1991, Psychology and aging.

[14]  Sujin Lee,et al.  Internet Over-Users' Psychological Profiles: A Behavior Sampling Analysis on Internet Addiction , 2003, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[15]  Duane T. Wegener,et al.  Attitudes and attitude change. , 1997, Annual review of psychology.

[16]  Lance Strate,et al.  Communication and Cyberspace: Social Interaction in an Electronic Environment , 1996 .

[17]  S. Srivastava,et al.  The Big Five Trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. , 1999 .

[18]  J. Jackson,et al.  Social support, interpersonal efficacy, and health: A life course perspective. , 1987 .

[19]  Nancy E. Betz,et al.  Development and Validation of a Scale of Perceived Social Self-Efficacy , 2000 .

[20]  A. Bandura.  SOCIAL COGNITIVE THEORY , 2008 .

[21]  T. Kamarck,et al.  Measuring the Functional Components of Social Support , 1985 .

[22]  K. Deneve,et al.  Happy as an Extraverted Clam? , 1999 .

[23]  Terri Gullickson,et al.  Annals of Child Development , 1995 .

[24]  Louis Leung,et al.  Impacts of Net-generation attributes, seductive properties of the Internet, and gratifications-obtained on Internet use , 2003, Telematics Informatics.

[25]  J. Slevin.  Internet and Society , 2000 .

[26]  Avishai Henik,et al.  SUPPRESSION SITUATIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH : DEFINITIONS, IMPLICATIONS, AND APPLICATIONS , 1991 .

[27]  C. Segrin,et al.  Age moderates the relationship between social support and psychosocial problems , 2003 .

[28]  C. Haythornthwaite,et al.  The Internet in Everyday Life: An Introduction , 2008 .

[29]  E. Diener,et al.  Subjective well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. , 2000, The American psychologist.

[30]  M. Waltz,et al.  Subjective health, intimacy, and perceived self-efficacy after heart attack: Predicting life quality five years afterwards , 1988 .

[31]  D. Zillmann.  Mood Management in the Context of Selective Exposure Theory , 2000 .

[32]  D. Featherman,et al.  Social self-efficacy and short-term variability in social relationships: the MacArthur successful aging studies. , 1997, Psychology and aging.

[33]  Joseph R. Ferrari,et al.  High School Achievement, Self-Efficacy, and Locus of Control as Predictors of Freshman Academic Performance , 1992 .

[34]  K. Schaie,et al.  Societal Mechanisms for Maintaining Competence in Old Age , 1998 .

[35]  Jonathon N. Cummings,et al.  Internet Paradox Revisited , 2002 .

[36]  Ruut Veenhoven,et al.  Developments in satisfaction-research , 1996 .

[37]  A. Bandura.  Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory , 1985 .

[38]  John P. Robinson,et al.  SOCIAL CONTACT DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INTERNET USERS AND NONUSERS IN THE GENERAL SOCIAL SURVEY , 2002 .

[39]  A. Bandura,et al.  Negative self-efficacy and goal effects revisited. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[40]  R. LaRose,et al.  Understanding Internet Usage , 2001 .

[41]  D. Watson,et al.  The role of person versus situation in life satisfaction: a critical examination. , 2004, Psychological bulletin.

[42]  R. Rubin,et al.  Conceptualization and Measurement of Interpersonal Communication Motives , 1988 .

[43]  H. Cooper,et al.  The happy personality: a meta-analysis of 137 personality traits and subjective well-being. , 1998, Psychological bulletin.

[44]  Katelyn Y. A. McKenna,et al.  Plan 9 From Cyberspace: The Implications of the Internet for Personality and Social Psychology , 2000 .

[45]  Richard E. Lucas,et al.  Subjective Weil-Being: Three Decades of Progress , 2004 .

[46]  J. A. Linney,et al.  Work, self, and life satisfaction for persons with severe and persistent mental disorders. , 1993 .

[47]  B. Wellman,et al.  The Internet in everyday life , 2002 .

[48]  Frank Biocca,et al.  Personality, cognitive style, demographic characteristics and Internet use - Findings from the HomeNetToo project , 2003 .

[49]  Joel Fischer,et al.  Measures for Clinical Practice: A Sourcebook , 1987 .

[50]  Eric B. Weiser,et al.  The Functions of Internet Use and Their Social and Psychological Consequences , 2001, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[51]  L. Lu,et al.  Personal or environmental causes of happiness: a longitudinal analysis. , 1999, The Journal of social psychology.

[52]  C. Holahan,et al.  Social Support, Self-efficacy, And Depressive Symptoms: An Integrative Model , 2002 .

[53]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  Applied multiple regression/correlation analysis for the behavioral sciences , 1979 .

[54]  A. Rich,et al.  Causes of Depression in College Students: A Cross-Lagged Panel Correlational Analysis , 1987 .

[55]  Keith N. Hampton,et al.  Does the Internet Increase, Decrease, or Supplement Social Capital? , 2001 .

[56]  E. Higgins,et al.  Communication, social cognition, and affect , 1988 .

[57]  M. Csíkszentmihályi.  If we are so rich, why aren't we happy? , 1999 .

[58]  K. Miyata.  Social Support for Japanese Mothers Online and Offline , 2008 .

[59]  G. Coenders,et al.  Life-Satisfaction, Values and Goal Achievement: The Case of Planned Versus by Chance Searches on the Internet , 2004 .