Digital competence in adolescents and young adults: a critical analysis of concomitant variables, methodologies and intervention strategies

Digital competence (DC) has received increased attention in society, politics and research in recent years. A particular emphasis has been placed on the importance of empowering adolescents and young adults to become digitally competent and sovereign adults, and that this should be achieved, for example, with the help of educational learning approaches. To provide an overview of research trends in this field, we conducted a scoping review and critical analysis of relevant literature on 15–25-year-olds’ DC, determining factors and consequences under research, methodological preferences and evaluated intervention strategies. Both descriptive techniques and quantitative classification methods (latent class and latent profile analyses) were used in summarising the state of the art. After screening 3605 scientific articles, two samples were further investigated: 230 articles on young people’s overall DC and a subsample thereof covering 20 articles on intervention studies. There were four major findings: (1) Contrary to wide-spread expectations, the number of relevant publications on adolescents’ DC displayed a flatter increase than the total growth of articles in the field. (2) A latent class analysis over concomitant variables revealed three subgroups of articles addressing study-specific, educational or so-called digital divide variables. Notably, little attention could be observed with respect to developmental aspects, including psychosocial variables, despite their critical importance for this age cohort. (3) A second classification of articles’ research designs and methodological foci yielded three latent profiles: university students’ DC level, secondary research on secondary students and DC as a predictor in university contexts. (4) Though most articles emphasised the importance of empowering young people in a digital world, only a few scientifically examined intervention concepts could be found, and these were extremely heterogeneous. We conclude that research on young people’s DC, especially that related to fostering their digital abilities, should be intensified.