Sex gaps and age differences in the structure of academic cyberloafing from early to middle adolescence: A network analysis

Abstract

BackgroundAcademic cyberloafing refers to students’ engagement in non‐learning‐related online activities during online courses, which can negatively affect their academic performance. Prior studies investigated cyberloafing primarily in the workplace, neglecting core behaviors and interactions among academic cyberloafing in educational contexts.AimsThis study employed network analysis to capture academic cyberloafing as an interactive behavior network to explore the core behavioral patterns of academic cyberloafing and the interactions between these behaviors.Materials & MethodsA total of 3537 adolescents (Mage = 12.49; 53.7% boys and 46.3% girls) in China were included in this study.ResultsThe findings indicated that “seeking gossip news” and “watching short videos” are central behaviors. Among boys, “browsing nonacademic web pages” and “watching short videos” are central behaviors; “seeking gossip news” is the most central behavior among girls. Furthermore, in early adolescence, central behaviors encompass “chatting privately” and “seeking gossip news”; in middle adolescence, central behaviors include “seeking gossip news” and “watching short videos.” Additionally, the comparisons indicated that academic cyberloafing networks (between boys and girls; between early and middle adolescence) show a similar structure and global strength but differ in specific academic cyberloafing associations.ConclusionAs adolescents of different sexes and ages engage in academic cyberloafing differently, tailored education interventions can be implemented to address unregulated cyberloafing.