ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Positive Psychology
From Screens to Minds: The Mediating Role of Psychological Well-Being Between Digital Reading and AI Anxiety
Provisionally accepted
- 1Akdeniz Universitesi, Antalya, Türkiye
- 2Bayburt University, Bayburt, Türkiye
- 3Inonu Universitesi, Malatya, Türkiye
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This study attempts to examine the mediating role of psychological well-being in the relation between digital reading disposition and artificial intelligence (AI) anxiety among Turkish teachers. Employing a correlational research design, we collected data from 324 teachers using the Digital Reading Disposition Scale, the Psychological Well-Being Scale, and the Artificial Intelligence Anxiety Scale. We employed bootstrapped structural equation models (SEM) to test the measurement model and the hypothesized mediation effect of psychological well-being. Prior to building the target SEM, we tested the construct validity of each measurement with the mentioned scales using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The findings revealed that digital reading disposition was positively associated with psychological well-being but negatively linked with AI anxiety, while psychological well-being was negatively related to AI anxiety. The results also demonstrated that psychological well-being partially mediated the relation between digital reading disposition and AI anxiety. It can, therefore, be suggested that teachers with stronger digital reading dispositions tend to experience higher levels of psychological well-being, which in turn acts as a buffer against AI-related anxiety. Our findings not only offer novel theoretical insights into educational literature by exploring digital reading, psychological well-being, and AI anxiety within a single structural model but also underscore the significance of fostering digital literacy and psychological resilience to mitigate technology-related anxiety in educational settings.
Keywords: digital reading disposition, psychological well-being, Artificial intelligence anxiety, Structural Equation Modeling, Teacher Education
Received: 18 Oct 2025; Accepted: 24 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 ÖZBİLEN, Banaz and ŞAHİN. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Emrullah Banaz
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