The interplay between internet searching styles and academic self-efficacy: a longitudinal study

The way teenagers search the Internet influences their learning profoundly, and this study examined the longitudinal and causal associations between teenagers’ schoolwork-related Internet searching styles and their academic self-efficacy by collecting longitudinal data. Two Internet searching styles, instrumental Internet searching and executive Internet searching, were investigated. A total of 659 Chinese middle school students (grades 7–11) participated in two waves of a survey with a 12-month interval. Cross-lag analysis was conducted and the results suggested that the associations between Internet searching styles and academic self-efficacy were interactive, and that their effects on each other were long lasting. Specifically, teenagers’ instrumental Internet searching enhanced their academic self-efficacy after 12 months, while their executive Internet searching resulted in a decrease in academic self-efficacy after 12 months. Moreover, academic self-efficacy also enabled prediction of increased instrumental Internet searching as well as decreased executive Internet searching after 12 months. The “rich get richer” and “the poor get poorer” model is introduced and discussed.