Digital Inequities and Subjective Well-Being in Middle Childhood : Evidence from A Cross-National Study During

While rapid digitalization has helped society manage the uncertainties of the COVID- 19 pandemic, its impact on well-being disparities among children remains unclear. Will digital technology promote health equity for disadvantaged children, or will it deepen existing inequalities? Using a large-scale, cross-national dataset of 23,582 children aged 7-15 from 20 societies, we explored how internet access (first-level digital divide) and digital activities (second- level digital divide) influenced children’s subjective well-being (e.g., life satisfaction and happiness) during the COVID-19 pandemic and how these effects varied across different sociodemographic groups (thirdlevel digital divide). Multilevel regression analyses showed that stable internet access significantly improved children’s subjective well-being, after controlling for sociodemographic and COVID-19related factors. However, the impact of digital activities on subjective well-being varied by the type of internet use: online interactions with friends and playing games online were positively associated with children’s well-being, whereas frequent social media use was linked to lower life satisfaction. We then examined whether family socioeconomic status (SES) moderated these relationships. The results indicate that the positive relationship between internet access and subjective well-being was more pronounced among children from wealthier families. Similarly, the positive effect of meeting friends online on subjective well-being was stronger among children with higher family SES. These findings suggest that digitalization provides greater psychological benefits to children from higher-SES families. Our study highlights the role of digital inequities in shaping well-being disparities and underscores the need for more nuanced information and communications technology policies as part of broader crisis adaptation strategies in the post-COVID-19 world.