The relationship between techno-distress and well-being among university students: the moderating effects of positive youth development attributes and techno-stressors.
4 affiliations
- 1School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, UK.
- 2School of Social Work, Arizona State University, Phoenix, USA.
- 3Department of Applied Social Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong SAR, China. [email protected].
- 4College of Undergraduate Studies, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Abstract
This study investigated the relationships between techno-distress and university students' well-being and examined the moderating roles of positive youth development (PYD) and techno-stressors. Data were collected from 636 university students in mainland China (36.95% male; Mage = 21.24; SDage = 1.43) via an online questionnaire. Hierarchical regressions with dual moderators were conducted using PROCESS Macro v4.2, controlling for digital literacy and organizational support. The findings revealed that techno-distress was positively associated with academic burnout and depression and negatively correlated with life satisfaction. Overall, PYD did not demonstrate a significant moderating role; however, among students with higher levels of competence-related PYD subdimensions, techno-distress was less strongly related to adverse mental health outcomes. In contrast, overall techno-stressors significantly amplified the relationship between techno-distress and depression, particularly under the dimensions of techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty. These findings highlight the dimension-specific patterns in the moderating role of PYD and indicate that association between techno-distress and mental health outcomes was stronger under higher levels of environmental demands. This study contributes to stress theory by providing a precise technostress framework and offers practical recommendations for reducing techno-distress in higher education.
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BibTeX
@article{huang2026relationship,
title = {{The relationship between techno-distress and well-being among university students: the moderating effects of positive youth development attributes and techno-stressors.}},
author = {Chunhan Huang and Xinger Xia and Diya Dou and Jieqi Li},
journal = {BMC psychology},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1186/s40359-026-05255-1},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963589},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - The relationship between techno-distress and well-being among university students: the moderating effects of positive youth development attributes and techno-stressors.
AU - Chunhan Huang
AU - Xinger Xia
AU - Diya Dou
AU - Jieqi Li
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - BMC psychology
DO - 10.1186/s40359-026-05255-1
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42963589
AB - This study investigated the relationships between techno-distress and university students' well-being and examined the moderating roles of positive youth development (PYD) and techno-stressors. Data were collected from 636 university students in mainland China (36.95% male; Mage = 21.24; SDage = 1.43) via an online questionnaire. Hierarchical regressions with dual moderators were conducted using PROCESS Macro v4.2, controlling for digital literacy and organizational support. The findings revealed that techno-distress was positively associated with academic burnout and depression and negatively correlated with life satisfaction. Overall, PYD did not demonstrate a significant moderating role; however, among students with higher levels of competence-related PYD subdimensions, techno-distress was less strongly related to adverse mental health outcomes. In contrast, overall techno-stressors significantly amplified the relationship between techno-distress and depression, particularly under the dimensions of techno-complexity, techno-insecurity, and techno-uncertainty. These findings highlight the dimension-specific patterns in the moderating role of PYD and indicate that association between techno-distress and mental health outcomes was stronger under higher levels of environmental demands. This study contributes to stress theory by providing a precise technostress framework and offers practical recommendations for reducing techno-distress in higher education.
SN - 2050-7283
ER -