Information communication technology use and school belonging in Australian high school students

School belonging is an important component of adolescent well-being, yet little is known about its relationship with adolescents' Information Communication Technology (ICT) use. This study aimed to examine the relationship between school belonging and various ICT use types in Australian adolescents. The sample was drawn from 14,530 Australian students in Grade 7 or higher, who completed the 2015 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development's Program for International Student Assessment survey. A hierarchical regression analysis was conducted to investigate the relationship between self-reported measures of school belonging and ICT use at home for schoolwork and ICT use at home for leisure, adjusting for covariates (age, gender, and economic, social, and cultural status). The regression model accounted for 3% of the variability of sense of school belonging, R-2 = 0.03, F(5, 10196) = 60.00, p < .001. After adjusting for covariates, more frequent ICT use at home for schoolwork predicted a higher sense of school belonging. Conversely, more frequent ICT use at home for leisure predicted lower levels of sense of school belonging. The way adolescents engage with ICT is important for a student's sense of school belonging, and the present findings have implications for researchers and psychologists.

Automated summary

The study found that more frequent ICT use at home for schoolwork predicted a higher sense of school belonging, while more frequent ICT use at home for leisure predicted lower levels of sense of school belonging.