Engagement with family, peers, and Internet use and its effect on mental well-being among high school students in Kanchanaburi Province, Thailand

Figures & data

Figure 1 Conceptual framework.

Table 1 Youth EFA and EPA.

Activities	Never (%)	Sometimes (%)	Always (%)	Mean	SD
Family activities
Dining together	3.9	40.8	55.3	2.5	0.6
Cleaning the house or cooking together	7.3	67.8	25.0	2.2	0.5
Leisure, watching television, listening to the radio together	4.2	42.0	53.8	2.5	0.6
Exercising and playing sports together	33.9	57.6	8.5	1.8	0.6
Going on picnics, outings	14.1	62.4	23.6	2.1	0.6
Visiting relatives and friends	13.0	69.1	17.9	2.1	0.6
Joint ritual or ceremonies; such as ordinations, weddings, funerals, etc.	8.3	66.8	25.0	2.2	0.6
Participating in religious holidays	5.5	60.8	33.7	2.3	0.6
Volunteering or conducting civic engagement activities	37.8	55.1	7.1	1.7	0.6
Peer group activities
Eating meals	1.4	18.8	79.8	2.8	0.4
Conducting recreational activities	1.1	31.1	67.8	2.7	0.5
Exercising and playing sports	6.8	50.7	42.6	2.4	0.6
Chatting	1.3	32.0	66.7	2.7	0.5
Travelling	10.5	29.1	60.4	2.5	0.7

Table 2 Use of online communication of school youth in Kanchanaburi Province.

	% Online use		Amount of tine used (minutes per day)
Online communication	%	(N)	Min	Max	Mean	SD
Internet chat	83.4%	(896)	5.0	600.0	104.5	120.3
Online social network	84.5%	(908)	5.0	600.0	101.9	104.8

Table 3 Persons that youth communicate with by type of online communication.

Type of communication	Type of receiver
	Friend (%)	Boy/girl friend (%)	Family (%)	Others (%)	Total (N)
Internet chat	85.2	11.3	2.5	1.1	100.0% (896)
Online social network	90.2	7.8	1.3	0.7	100.0% (908)

Table 4 Purpose of using online communication.

			(N = 1053)
Objective	Never (%)	Sometimes (%)	Always (%)
Relieve stress	13.4	61.4	25.2
Relieve loneliness	12.3	53.0	34.7
Reveal inner thoughts	28.6	55.0	16.4
Express opinions	4.3	50.1	45.6
Increase familiarity/intimacy	9.7	51.2	39.1
Building networks	8.3	50.5	41.2
Happiness and comfort	3.6	39.3	57.1
Security and safety	22.3	58.1	19.6
Increase accessibility to information/education	4.7	47.3	48.0
Realising a greater sense of self when online	15.1	60.8	24.1

Table 5 Correlation of online communication and EFA and EPA.

Online communication	EFA	EPA
Internet chat	− 0.005	0.084^**
Online social network	− 0.006	0.108^***

Notes: Control variables: sex, age, GPA, ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01; ^***p < 0.001.

Table 6 Regression analyses: predicting youth MWB (N = 994).

	MWB
	TMH		DP		ST
Factors	B	β	B	β	B	β
Boys	0.306	0.031	− 1.040^*	− 0.073	− 0.481^***	− 0.099
Age	0.690^***	0.135	− 0.591^**	− 0.080	− 0.067	− 0.027
GPA	1.300^***	0.150	− 1.499^***	− 0.121	− 0.135	− 0.032
EFA	0.368^***	0.235	− 0.462^***	− 0.205	− 0.146^***	− 0.189
EPA	0.354^***	0.130	− 0.278^*	− 0.071	− 0.064	− 0.048
Internet chat	0.001	0.027	0.001	0.013	0.000	0.006
Online social network	0.000	− 0.020	0.000	0.001	0.002^*	0.083
(Constant)	(3.899)	(42.801)^***	(15.566)^***
R^2	0.120	0.072	0.052
Adjusted R^2	0.114	0.066	0.046
F	30.772^***	11.771^***	8.350^***
SEE	4.634	6.849	2.375

Note: ^*p < 0.05; ^**p < 0.01; ^***p < 0.001.