Author: Krishnarup Chaudhuri, Shaswati Chakraborty Ghose & Swatilekha Pal Joarder
DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.70798/Bijmrd/03120006
Abstract: This study analysed the interaction between digital literacy, critical thinking, resilience and depressive symptoms with 50 secondary school students. Descriptive analyses showed moderate levels of resilience and critical thinking, although as alarming a percentage reported high levels of depressive symptoms (PHQ-9 mean = 13.92). Regression analysis showed that critical thinking was the only significant positive predictor of resilience (β=1.122, p=0.001), but digital literacy and demographic variables were unrelated to resilience. However, reliability analyses resulted in unacceptably low values of Cronbach’s alpha across all scales (α ≤ 0.15), with negative coefficients for PHQ-9 and critical thinking indicative of poor item coherence or problems with scoring. Normality tests confirmed that only the resilience was normally distributed; other variables had to be tackled using non-parametric approaches. Owing to the limited number of students studied, the fact it was a single school study, and the limitations of certain measurements was not possible to use advanced modelling (such as structural equation modelling, multilevel analysis, etc.). These findings underscore the importance for ensuring the validity of an instrument in adolescent samples, and the possibility for over-interpreting of an association in the absence of good psychometric properties.
Keywords: Digital Literacy, Critical Thinking, Resilience, Adolescent Mental Health, PHQ-9, Psychometric Validity.
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