Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction Through AI Use and Digital Well-Being: Virtual Loneliness and Online Social Capital as Serial Mediators

This study examined the association between basic psychological need satisfaction through artificial intelligence (AI) use and digital well-being among university students, with virtual loneliness and online social capital specified as serial mediators. A quantitative, cross-sectional correlational design was used. Analyses included 1708 university students in Türkiye who used AI applications and were recruited through convenience sampling. Participants completed the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction through AI Use Scale, the Virtual Loneliness subscale of the Virtual Environment Loneliness Scale, the Online Social Capital Scale, and the Digital Well-Being Scale. The model was tested using PROCESS Model 6. Need satisfaction was directly and positively associated with digital well-being. Contrary to expectations, it was positively associated with virtual loneliness, which was positively associated with online social capital. Virtual loneliness was negatively associated with digital well-being, whereas online social capital showed a small positive association. The negative indirect association through virtual loneliness opposed the positive direct association, indicating competitive mediation, whereas the positive indirect associations involving online social capital, including the serial indirect association, indicated complementary mediation. These patterns were robust to additional covariates and the core associations were consistent across genders, although the sign of the total indirect association depended on how digital well-being was measured. Supplementary analyses showed that the association with virtual loneliness was carried mainly by relatedness to AI, whereas autonomy showed the strongest association with digital well-being. The cross-sectional findings describe concurrent associations and do not establish the temporal sequence proposed in the model. These findings show that need satisfaction through AI can coexist with virtual loneliness and highlight the importance of distinguishing among need domains when interpreting digital well-being.