The Goldilocks Effect of Digital Technology Use: Psychological Hardiness and Mental Health as Pathways to Life Skills among Indian University Students
Abstract
Background: The pervasive use of digital technology among Indian university students has raised concerns about its implications for life skills, mental health, and psychological hardiness. While moderate use may enhance learning, excessive use is associated with adverse psychological outcomes. Objective: This study examines (a) prevalence of digital technology usage, (b) differences in life skills, mental health, and psychological hardiness across levels of digital technology usage, and (c) interlinkages among these variables. Methods: The study adopted a two-phase design. In Phase-1, a Self-constructed Digital Technology Usage Scale was developed and standardized on 1,000 university students from Delhi-NCR. In Phase-2, data were collected from an independent sample of 600 postgraduate university students (300 professional, 300 non-professional) from government and private universities in Delhi, using stratified random sampling (Gender x Stream x University Type). Tools used: (1) Life Skills Assessment Scale (Nair et al., 2010), (2) Mental Health Inventory (Jagdish & Srivastava, 1983), and (3) Psychological Hardiness Scale (Singh, 2008).Analysis: Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, Pearson correlation, One-way ANOVA, and Multiple Regression were performed using SPSS v26. Results: Moderate users (2-5 hrs/day) showed significantly higher life skills (M=198.60), mental health (M=158.2) and psychological hardiness (M=105.80) compared to low (<2 hrs) and high (>5 hrs) users (F=8.73 to 10.21, p<.01). Mental health (β=.38) and hardiness (β=.32) significantly predicted life skills. Keywords: Digital Technology Usage, Life Skills, Mental Health, Psychological Hardiness, University Students
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BibTeX
@misc{lovakumari2026goldilocks,
title = {{The Goldilocks Effect of Digital Technology Use: Psychological Hardiness and Mental Health as Pathways to Life Skills among Indian University Students}},
author = {Dr Kadim Lovakumari and Prof Tosendra Dwivedi},
howpublished = {PsyArXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.31234/osf.io/4sr2q_v1},
url = {https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4sr2q_v1/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - The Goldilocks Effect of Digital Technology Use: Psychological Hardiness and Mental Health as Pathways to Life Skills among Indian University Students
AU - Dr Kadim Lovakumari
AU - Prof Tosendra Dwivedi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
PB - PsyArXiv
DO - 10.31234/osf.io/4sr2q_v1
UR - https://osf.io/preprints/psyarxiv/4sr2q_v1/
AB - Background: The pervasive use of digital technology among Indian university students has raised concerns about its implications for life skills, mental health, and psychological hardiness. While moderate use may enhance learning, excessive use is associated with adverse psychological outcomes. Objective: This study examines (a) prevalence of digital technology usage, (b) differences in life skills, mental health, and psychological hardiness across levels of digital technology usage, and (c) interlinkages among these variables. Methods: The study adopted a two-phase design. In Phase-1, a Self-constructed Digital Technology Usage Scale was developed and standardized on 1,000 university students from Delhi-NCR. In Phase-2, data were collected from an independent sample of 600 postgraduate university students (300 professional, 300 non-professional) from government and private universities in Delhi, using stratified random sampling (Gender x Stream x University Type). Tools used: (1) Life Skills Assessment Scale (Nair et al., 2010), (2) Mental Health Inventory (Jagdish & Srivastava, 1983), and (3) Psychological Hardiness Scale (Singh, 2008).Analysis: Descriptive statistics, independent-samples t-tests, Pearson correlation, One-way ANOVA, and Multiple Regression were performed using SPSS v26. Results: Moderate users (2-5 hrs/day) showed significantly higher life skills (M=198.60), mental health (M=158.2) and psychological hardiness (M=105.80) compared to low (<2 hrs) and high (>5 hrs) users (F=8.73 to 10.21, p<.01). Mental health (β=.38) and hardiness (β=.32) significantly predicted life skills. Keywords: Digital Technology Usage, Life Skills, Mental Health, Psychological Hardiness, University Students
ER -