Predicting student mental wellbeing and loneliness and the importance of digital skills

Figures & data

Table 1. Sample characteristics

Age/Years (18–21/21-25/over 26)		140/203/73
Gender (Female/Male)		333/72
Ethnicity (White British/White non-British/BAME^†)		119/144/146
Disability (non-MH)^a		59
MH condition^b		89
Fee status (Home/EU/International)		221/109/86
Level of study (UG/PG)		296/121
First-generation student		102
Discipline:	Arts & Humanities	77
	Social Sciences & Economics	126
	Medicine & Allied Healthcare	182
	Natural & Mathematical Sciences	24

†Including Black or Black British, Asian or Asian British, Chinese or Chinese British, and mixed background ethnicities.

^aDisability represents the number of students reporting one or more physical, sensory and learning disabilities.

^bMH condition represents the number of students reporting a long-term mental health condition (e.g. depression or anxiety).

N = 417. Some demographic questions were not answered by all respondents.

Figure 1. Students’ digital abilities and confidence in using them. Error bars represent the standard deviation of the measure (line = ability; diamond = confidence).

Table 2. Correlations between JISC abilities and confidence levels

Variable	Finding Info (C)	Tools (C)	Comms (C)	Create (C)	Learn (C)	Prefer (C)	Being online (C)	Overall (C)
Finding Info (A)	.603**	.363**	.308**	.452**	.388**	.410**	.289**	.499**
Tools (A)	.324**	.438**	.370**	.433**	.425**	.410**	.174**	.454**
Comms (A)	.386**	.392**	.563**	.400**	.406**	.365**	.076	.493**
Create (A)	.490**	.469**	.379**	.774**	.503**	.513**	.273**	.626**
Learn (A)	.369**	.433**	.423**	.447**	.687**	.498**	.278**	.563**
Prefer (A)	.270**	.329**	.354**	.320**	.449**	.541**	.257**	.462**
Being online (A)	.173**	.159**	.164**	.172**	.247**	.207**	.513**	.293**
Overall (A)	.560**	.552**	.530**	.663**	.674**	.625**	.400**	.734**

Highlighted cells indicate the correlation between a specific digital ability (A) and confidence (C) for that ability. ** p < .01

Table 3. Predicting overall digital ability and subdomains (finding info, tools, comms)

IV	Overall		Finding Info		Tools		Comms
	b	95% CI	b	95% CI	b	95% CI	b	95% CI
Constant	68.55	60.1, 77.01	7.06	5.8, 8.33	6.21	5.08, 7.35	7.52	6.64, 8.4
Demographics
Age	−2.09	−4.83, 0.64	0.05	−0.36, 0.46	−0.42	−0.78, −0.05	0	−0.29, 0.28
Female	−3.72	−7.55, 0.11	−0.67*	−1.25, −0.1	−0.65*	−1.17, −0.13	−0.46*	−0.85, −0.06
White Non-British^a	2.1	−2.86, 7.06	0.34	−0.4, 1.09	0.32	−0.35, 0.99	0.08	−0.44, 0.6
BAME^a	1.98	−2.21, 6.18	0.14	−0.49, 0.76	0.53	−0.04, 1.09	0.12	−0.32, 0.56
Home student	−1.3	−5.46, 2.85	−0.13	−0.75, 0.49	0.14	−0.42, 0.7	−0.24	−0.68, 0.19
Disability	−0.88	−4.88, 3.12	0.23	−0.37, 0.82	−0.05	−0.58, 0.49	−0.24	−0.66, 0.17
MH condition	1.1	−2.7, 4.9	0.09	−0.48, 0.65	0.15	−0.36, 0.66	0.28	−0.12, 0.67
First generation	−1.15	−4.88, 2.59	0.07	−0.49, 0.63	−0.48	−0.98, 0.03	−0.26	−0.64, 0.13
Level of study	4.44*	0.07, 8.82	0.35	−0.31, 1	0.64*	0.05, 1.23	0.27	−0.19, 0.72
Academic Area
Social Sci. & econ^b	−1.22	−5.2, 2.75	−0.34	−0.93, 0.26	−0.09	−0.63, 0.44	0.06	−0.35, 0.48
Arts & Humanities^b	1.83	−2.38, 6.04	0.36	−0.27, 0.99	0.06	−0.51, 0.63	0.34	−0.1, 0.78
Natural & Maths Sci. ^b	−5.66	−12.1, 0.78	−0.68	−1.65, 0.28	−0.34	−1.21, 0.53	−0.26	−0.93, 0.41
Study resources
Safe study space	3.28	−0.32, 6.87	0.59*	0.06, 1.13	0.36	−0.13, 0.84	0.4*	0.03, 0.77
Financial costs	−2.06	−5.65, 1.53	−0.34	−0.88, 0.2	−0.33	−0.81, 0.15	−0.11	−0.48, 0.27

Overall Ability, R2 = 0.08, F(14,313) = 1.85, p = .031; Finding Info, R2 = 0.07, F(14,313) = 1.74, p = .047; Tools, R2 = 0.08, F(14,313) = 2.15, p = .010; Comms, R2 = 0.09, F(14,313) = 2.12, p = .011

* = p < 0.05. ^aWhite British, ^bMedicine & Allied Healthcare Subjects were used as reference values.

Abbreviations: MH Condition – mental health condition; Social Sci. & econ – social sciences and economics; Natural & Maths Sci; natural and mathematical sciences

Table 4. Regression coefficients for the final model predicting mental wellbeing and loneliness

IVs	Mental Wellbeing			Loneliness
	b	95% CI		b	95% CI
Constant	15.62	12.12, 19.13		5.71	2.51, 8.92
Demographics
Age	0.11	−0.43, 0.65		−0.55*	−1.05, −0.05
Female	−0.75	−1.5, 0		−0.41	−1.11, 0.29
White Non-British^a	0.15	−0.81, 1.11		−0.26	−1.15, 0.64
BAME^a	−0.22	−1.05, 0.6		−0.04	−0.8, 0.73
Home student	−0.09	−0.9, 0.71		−0.61	−1.36, 0.14
Disability	0.24	−0.53, 1.01		−0.06	−0.78, 0.66
MH condition	−0.77*	−1.53, −0.01		0.61	−0.1, 1.32
First generation	0.59	−0.13, 1.3		−0.15	−0.82, 0.52
Level of study	0.02	−0.83, 0.86		0.32	−0.47, 1.11
Academic area
Social Sci. & econ^b	−0.17	−0.94, 0.6		0.05	−0.67, 0.76
Arts & Humanities^b	0.27	−0.55, 1.09		0.92*	0.16, 1.67
Natural & Maths Sci. ^b	−0.5	−1.81, 0.81		0.39	−0.83, 1.61
Connection
Social identity	0.04*	0, 0.07		0.02	−0.02, 0.05
Connectedness	0.05*	0, 0.09		0.07***	0.03, 0.11
Loneliness (UCLA)	−0.49***	−0.61, −0.37
Study resources
Safe study space	0.92**	0.21, 1.63		−0.58	−1.23, 0.07
Extra technology costs	−1.13	−1.83, −0.42		0.32	−0.34, 0.98
Digital skills and ability
JISC overall ability	0	−0.03, 0.04		0	−0.03, 0.03
JISC overall confidence	0.04*	0.01, 0.06		−0.04**	−0.06, −0.01

Mental wellbeing: R² = .37, F(19,295) = 8.96, p < .001; UCLA: R² = .21, F(18, 297) = 4.25, p < .001. * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01, *** = p < 0.001. ^aWhite British, ^bMedicine & Allied Healthcare Subjects were used as reference values.

Abbreviations: MH Condition – mental health condition; Social Sci. & econ – social sciences and economics; Natural & Maths Sci; natural and mathematical sciences.