Perceived stress and cyberloafing among college students: The mediating roles of fatigue and negative coping styles

Abstract

Cyberloafing has increasingly attracted the attention of scholars because of the widespread use of digital devices in educational environments. This research was conducted to investigate the roles of fatigue and negative coping styles in mediating the relationship between perceived stress and cyberloafing. A total of 730 undergraduates (reduced to 716 due to incomplete data) completed self-report questionnaires measuring perceived stress, fatigue, negative coping styles, and cyberloafing. Perceived stress was shown to be a significant predictor of cyberloafing. Furthermore, negative coping styles played a unique mediating role and fatigue and negative coping styles exerted a sequential mediating effect on the association between perceived stress and cyberloafing. We envision the findings as being helpful in guiding educators develop interventions for minimizing cyberloafing by college students and its disrupting effects.