Adolescent Digital Engagement and Mental Well-Being: A Study on Digital Maturity

Despite the growing importance of digital technologies in adolescents’ lives, how digital use links to adolescent mental well-being is not well understood. This study examined the role of digital maturity –self-determined use of digital technologies to support psychological growth– in how digital use links to adolescent mental well-being. A sample of 349 adolescents (Mage = 15.44, 52.10% girls) was recruited to obtain detailed information on their mental well-being, digital maturity, and digital use. Generalised Latent Class Analysis was applied to identify digital user profiles, and Mediation Analysis to establish the role of adolescent digital maturity in the association between digital use profiles and mental well-being. Results showed three distinct profiles: (1) ‘Light’ users: low-intensity users, and communication oriented; (2) ‘Reserved’ users: medium-intensity users with private communication and passive–entertainment orientation; and (3) ‘Outgoing’ users: high-intensity users, and active–public oriented. Both ‘Outgoing and ‘Reserved’ users had lower mental well-being than ‘Light’ users. While lower levels of digital maturity mediated ‘Outgoing’ users’ lower mental well-being compared to Light users, digital maturity did not contribute to explain the lower mental well-being of Reserved users. Findings underscore how distinct profiles of digital users are associated with different levels of youth mental well-being and digital maturity, indicating that digital maturity is an important protective factor to improve the mental well-being of adolescents with risky digital behaviours.