Effects of Lifestyle Influenced by Cyberspace on Academic Engagement of High School Students

The desirable and harmful effects of cyberspace on different aspects of life especially education and schooling have always been a subject of debate. Thus, the main purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of lifestyle influenced by cyberspace on academic engagement of students. The statistical population consisted of high school students (junior and senior) of the city of Dehloran (Ilam Province, Iran) in the academic year 2018-19., 360 of whom were selected as the sample through cluster random sampling. The necessary data were collected by two standard questionnaires, i.e., Reev’s (2013) student engagement questionnaire and Taheri’s (2014) questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha was used to measure the reliability of both questionnaires (α = 0.88). The correlation coefficients showed that there is a significant negative relationship between lifestyle influenced by cyberspace and academic engagement (r=-0.39, p≤0.001). Analysis of structural equation modeling (SEM) with AMOS also indicated that the lifestyle influenced by cyberspace variable and its six dimensions (knowledge acquisition, communication, identity, services, enjoyment seeking, and outcome) were able to predict 51% (R2=0.51) of the variance in the academic engagement variable (β= -0.53 and p≤0.00). The results showed that lifestyle influenced by cyberspace had a negative effect on academic performance of students. Therefore, it was concluded that such lifestyle needs to be modified with a view to attain maximum benefits and minimum costs.