Understanding Young Graduates’ Life/Career Satisfaction levels and their Subjective Future Expectations, through their internet skills, in Central Europe

Today, communication and administration are increasingly moving online and this trend is also evident in the health sector.Together with internet-based solutions, designed to make healthcare logistics more efficient, AI-based therapeutic solutions are emerging, while patients and informal caregivers are exposed to vast amounts of online information.In such times, internet skills are becoming increasingly important.This study explores university graduate young adults' current and expected future satisfaction with life and career, and their associations with internet skills.An online survey was conducted in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and the Slovak Republic, among <31-year-old adults, with a university degree.Life satisfaction (LS), career satisfaction (CS), expected LS (eLS) and expected CS (eCS) in 10 years, were assessed with numeric scales.To measure internet skills, Operational, Information Navigation, Social, and Creative domains of the Internet Skills Scale (ISS), were applied.Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Models were built for the four satisfaction outcomes.Different associations were observed between dimensions of ISS and satisfaction variables.Positive but weak associations were found between LS and ISS-Social; CS and ISS-Operational and -Creative; eLS and ISS-Social and -Creative; eCS and ISS-Operational, -Social and -Information navigation skills.The R2 values of the four models ranged between 0.108 and 0.163.Positive expectations for improvement in life and career satisfaction were common.The significant, but weak, effect magnitudes suggest that internet skills play a minor role in both current and expected life and career satisfaction of young graduates, nevertheless, underscoring the need for innovative strategies to enhance these competencies.