Abstract
The ramifications of Internet addiction on psychological and social wellbeing have been extensively demonstrated in previous studies involving college students, but examining the mediating role of Internet addiction between self-efficacy and overall wellbeing has not been well-investigated, particularly among interns. This study first assessed the online learning experiences of a sample of interns during the COVID-19 pandemic and then explored the association between three constructs: self-efficacy, Internet addiction, and overall wellbeing. Fresh graduates engaging in an online internship program were recruited to participate in a cross-sectional online survey during the outbreak of COVID-19 in Bahrain. Self-administered scales of General Self-Efficacy (GSE), Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and PERMA Profiler were used to collect data about self-efficacy, Internet addiction, and overall wellbeing. Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to measure the strength of the hypothesized relationships between these three constructs. A structural equation model was used to analyze the mediating role of Internet addiction. Overall, the higher the self-efficacy the participants perceived, the lesser Internet addiction they exhibited (r = −0.23, p = 0.02), and the more wellbeing they felt (r = 0.45, p ˂ 0.01). Internet addiction has been found as a mediating factor between self-efficacy and overall wellbeing (b = 0.12, p < 0.001). 61.5% of the participants had mild to moderate levels of Internet addiction. Experiencing less communication with colleagues because of online learning was one of the top-rated online experiences and consistently, enjoying positive relationships was the lowest-rated pillar of PERMA. Therefore, problematic Internet use that negatively affects individuals’ health should be managed through self-efficacy-boosting strategies. Further, fostering communications and social connectedness disrupted with excessive reliance on virtual environments demands special attention by counseling psychologists and e-education providers/developers.
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Ebrahim, A.H., Helmy, M., Engel, E., AlQoud, K., AlShakoori, H. (2022). Interns’ Self-efficacy, Internet Addiction, Wellbeing, and Online Learning Experiences: A Descriptive-Correlational Study. In: Hamdan, A., Harraf, A., Arora, P., Alareeni, B., Khamis Hamdan, R. (eds) Future of Organizations and Work After the 4th Industrial Revolution. Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol 1037. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-99000-8_15
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