About this srcd poster session

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Panel information
Panel 24. Technology, Media & Child Development

Abstract

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Research has explored adolescent digital use through the lens of screentime and addictive behavior (Hunt et al., 2021; Oberle et al., 2020), with an outsized focus on deficit-
based measures of social, cognitive, and emotional wellbeing outcomes (Wilkerson et al., 2021;
Orben & Przybylski, 2019), rather than assessing digital wellbeing–or the impact one’s relationship with technology has on their wellbeing–itself (Meier & Reinecke, 2021). Notably, there is a lack of validated objective measures for digital wellbeing, and an absence of person—like age—and device-specific factors as research foci (Vanden Abeele, 2021; Dienlin & Johannes, 2020; Meier, 2022).

Of importance for research on child development, age has been a largely overlooked factor in the measurement of digital wellbeing. Although the U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) set age 13 as the minimum for using online services without parental consent, the act predates modern social media and may not address the developmental needs of today's adolescents. More recent guidance, such as that from U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, suggests that 13 is too young for social media engagement, highlighting the need for further research on how digital technology impacts early adolescents, particularly around this critical age threshold. However, further investigation into the digital wellbeing trajectories across child development, is needed to build the evidence base.

The current study works to better understand how to measure one’s digital wellbeing in a way that: 1) confirms that current constructs associated with digital wellbeing have construct validity for U.S. adolescents; and 2) has validation consistency across the early adolescent developmental period (i.e., ages 11-12 and 13-14), as well as with a variety of other socio-cultural factors (i.e., socioeconomic status, ethnicity, gender identity). Specifically, Rosic and colleagues’ (2022) Digital Flourishing Scale for Adolescents (DFS-A, 21 items) is a strengths-based scale featuring the following factors: connectedness; civil participation; positive social comparison; authentic self-presentation; and self-control.

Using data collected via a community-engaged research partnership (N-960, 92% of a middle school population), this study extends prior validation studies within the context of U.S.-based early adolescents (ages 11-14) within a majority-Latine sample. Findings support the internal consistency of the DFS-A; 𝛼’s for each factor were greater than .08 (Tavakol & Dennick, 2011). CFA confirmed a five-factor solution (Table 1); treating the DSF-A as continuous resulted in good fit for all indices, with a lower, more ideal RMSEA and higher, but still good-fit SRMR as compared with the five-factor model treating DSF-A as categorical [χ2(179) = 590.135, p < 0.001; RMSEA = .049, CFI = 0.955, TLI = 0.947, SRMR = 0.042, χ2 = 58.696; Δdf=5; p <.0001]. Finally, additional CFAs focused on age and Latine identification found that the DFS-A had measurement invariance for these, and other demographic variables (i.e., SES, gender) (Table 2). In sum, these statistical assurances provide researchers with the confidence to use the DFS-A with U.S-based adolescents, especially Latine populations, and support calls for more upstream interventions for digital wellbeing in adolescence, starting as early as age 11.

Author information

Author	Role
Rachel Hanebutt, Georgetown University	Presenting author

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