Techno-stress and addiction to information and communication technologies (ICT) in Mexican university students: instrument diagnosis and validation

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to identify and characterize the acceptance degree, techno-stress level, and addiction level to information and communication technologies (ICT) of undergraduate students during their studies. This is a mixed-approach quantitative research study. The study's scope is correlational, explanatory, non-experimental, and transversal. The sampling is non-probabilistic for convenience and consists of 706 Mexican public university students. The Lopez-Barbosa technological stress survey is applied. The results show low stress levels in two sub-samples and high stress levels in one sub-sample. Stress is related to ICT time usage. Both bad attitude towards ICT and ICT addiction are directly causally related to techno-stress as shown by using the CB-SEM technique. It is concluded that it is crucial to acknowledge that ICT have the potential to cause positive and negative effects in both professors and students.