Inequality in mobilizing online help after a negative life event: the role of education, digital skills, and capital-enhancing Internet use

Figures & data

Figure 1. Theoretical model: The connections between three types of digital inequality.

Figure 2. SEM of education, digital skills, Internet usage, and dimensions of online coping (standardized coefficients). Note. N = 3533. Paths that were non-significant (p ≥ .05) are not shown. Age, gender, and education were included as determinant for all endogenous variables; type of event, and severity of event were included as controls for the three online coping factors. Standard errors are adjusted for clustering in households.

Table 1. Correlations and descriptive statistics.

	Education	Digital skills	Online gaming	Searching	Forums & com.	SNSs	Disengagement	Problemfoc. cop.	Socioemo. cop.
Education	1
Digital skills	.40	1
Online gaming^a	−.09	(.05)	1
Searching^a	.22	.33	.12	1
Forums & com.^a	.11	.30	.13	.24	1
SNSs^a	.09	.25	.29	.25	.25	1
Disengagement^b	.05	.14	.21	.14	.18	.21	1
Problem-foc. cop.^b	.09	.18	.04	.12	.17	.15	.45	1
Socioemo. cop.^b	(.01)	.05	.06	(.04)	.17	.16	.38	.63	1
Mean	3.71	2.89	0.32	1.16	0.13	0.56	1.47	1.27	1.13
SD	1.49	1.36	0.66	0.74	0.37	0.80	0.69	0.46	0.36
Min/Max	1/6	1/5	0/3.76	0/4.04	0/2.83	0/4.04	1/4	1/4	1/4
N	3453	1758	2969	2969	2970	2968	2968	3533	3533

Note. All correlations are significant at p  <  .05 (two-tailed) except those in parentheses.

^aLog of time spent on online activity.

^bAverage scores.

Table 2. Total effects of education on Internet usage and indirect effect through digital skills (standardized effects and Z scores).

	Indirect effect through digital skills	Total effect
Educ → Gaming	.047 (4.84)**	−.117 (6.32)**
Educ → Searching	.098 (8.89)**	.182 (9.70)**
Educ → Forums	.092 (7.52)**	.053 (2.82)**
Educ → SNSs	.058 (6.08)**	−.018 (−1.10)

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

Table 3. Total effects of education on mobilized online and offline coping resources (standardized effects and Z scores).

	Online	Offline
Educ → Disengament	.022 (1.08)	.008 (0.02)
Educ → Problem-focused coping	.076 (3.99)**	.123 (4.67)**
Educ → Socioemotional coping	−.028 (−1.39)	.072 (2.88)*

*p < .05.

**p < .01.