{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T13:05:21Z","timestamp":1789736721284,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1789689600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"\n Objective<\/jats:title>\n Self-leadership is recognized as a critical self-regulatory capacity for academic success and personal development. While prior correlational studies have linked digital literacy to self-regulated learning, experimental evidence for a potential directional pathway from digital literacy enhancement to self-leadership development remains scarce. This study aimed to explore whether a structured digital literacy training program might contribute to improving college students\u2019 self-leadership over time.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Methods<\/jats:title>\n \n A total of 158 college students (M_age\u202f=\u202f20.14, SD\u202f=\u202f1.33; 57 males, 101 females) were randomly assigned to either an experimental group (\n n<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f79) receiving a 10-week digital literacy training program or a waitlist control group (\n n<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f=\u202f79). Two participants were excluded from the final analysis due to extreme baseline values and inconsistent response patterns. Self-leadership was measured at three time points: pre-test (T1), post-test (immediate post-intervention) (T2), and 1-month follow-up (T3) using the Revised Self-Leadership Questionnaire (RSLQ-38). Mixed-design repeated-measures ANOVA and mediation analyses were conducted.\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Results<\/jats:title>\n \n The experimental group demonstrated significantly greater improvements in overall self-leadership from T1 to T2 compared to the control group, with a significant Group \u00d7 Time interaction (\n F<\/jats:italic>\n (2, 312)\u202f=\u202f28.02,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001,\n \u03b7<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n \u202f=\u202f0.15, 95% CI [0.08, 0.23]). Significant interaction effects were also found for behavior-focused strategies (\n F<\/jats:italic>\n (2, 312)\u202f=\u202f22.31,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001,\n \u03b7<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n \u202f=\u202f0.12), natural reward strategies (\n F<\/jats:italic>\n (2, 312)\u202f=\u202f15.87,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001,\n \u03b7<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n \u202f=\u202f0.09), and constructive thought pattern strategies (\n F<\/jats:italic>\n (2, 312)\u202f=\u202f18.42,\n p<\/jats:italic>\n \u202f&lt;\u202f0.001,\n \u03b7<\/jats:italic>\n 2<\/jats:sup>\n \u202f=\u202f0.10). Gains were sustained at the 1-month follow-up. Mediation analysis revealed that improvements in digital literacy partially mediated the relationship between intervention condition and self-leadership change (indirect effect\u202f=\u202f0.21, 95% CI [0.12, 0.31]).\n <\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>\n \n Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n These findings contribute preliminary experimental evidence suggesting that digital literacy training represents one potentially viable approach to fostering college students\u2019 self-leadership, with effects maintained at the 1-month follow-up, indicating short-term durability. Longer-term durability, replication with active control groups, and investigation of specific intervention components remain important directions for future research.<\/jats:p>\n <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2026.1954656","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]],"date-time":"2026-09-18T12:26:34Z","timestamp":1789734394000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Exploring the effects of digital literacy training on college students\u2019 self-leadership: a longitudinal randomized controlled trial"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Kefei","family":"Tan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Education, Minzu University of China","place":["Beijing, China"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,18]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","volume-title":"Social Foundations of Thought and action: A Social Cognitive Theory","author":"Bandura","year":"1986"},{"key":"ref2","volume-title":"Digcomp 2.1: The Digital Competence Framework for Citizens with Eight Proficiency Levels and Examples of Use JRC Working Papers","author":"Carretero","year":"2017"},{"key":"ref3","article-title":"Midwifery students\u2019 adaptation to artificial intelligence: role of self-leadership, attitudes towards professional development, and digital literacy skills","author":"\u00c7elik","year":"2026","journal-title":"Comput. 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