Mediating Effect of Digital Addiction on The Relationship Between Academic Motivation and Life Satisfaction in University Students

In this study, the mediating role of digital addiction in the relationship between academic motivation and life satisfaction was examined. The present study was quantitative in nature and correlational design was used. The data were collected through Google Forms. 191 university students selected by convenience sampling method participated in the study. Personal Information Form, Academic Motivation Scale, Digital Addiction Scale and Life Satisfaction Scale were used to collect data. Statistical analyses were carried out in two stages. First, the means, standard deviations, skewness and kurtosis coefficients of the variables and correlation coefficients between the variables were calculated. In the second stage, it was examined whether digital addiction plays a mediating role in the relationship between academic motivation and life satisfaction. The PROCESS macro model 4 was used to examine this role. In the analyses made to examine the mediation of digital addiction, 5000 resampling options were preferred with the bootstrap technique. The study has revealed that there is a positive direct and significant relationship between the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation sub-dimensions of academic motivation and life satisfaction, and a negative direct relationship between amotivation sub-dimension and life satisfaction. In addition, there is a negative direct relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and digital addiction, and a positive direct relationship exists between amotivation and digital addiction. In addition to these results, the study also revealed that digital addiction negatively predicted life satisfaction. These results suggest that digital addiction has a partial mediation effect on the relationship between academic motivation and life satisfaction. Findings were discussed based on the literature and recommendations were made accordingly.