AI-driven emotional support as a predictor of digital well-being among undergraduate students in Pakistan

Abstract

The present study investigated the role of emotional support in predicting digital well-being among undergraduate students of Pakistan with the help of AI. The research design was quantitative and cross sectional. The total sample consisted of 210 undergraduate students from Psychology, Urdu, English and Education programs who were selected as a convenience sample for the purposes of the study, who completed an online survey instrument that included the researcher-developed AI-Driven Emotional Support Scale (AIES; 17 items) and the Digital Well-Being Scale was adapted (DWS; Appianing et al, 2026; 41 items). Four cases were rejected due to an embedded attention-check, resulting in the 206 cases used for analysis. The internal consistency of both instruments was found to be good at Cronbach’s between α .80 and .86. The students reported moderate level of emotional support from AI (M = 3.32, SD = 0.71, on a 1 to 5 scale). A Pearson correlation revealed a statistically significant strong positive correlation between the provision of emotional support using AI-driven and digital well-being, r(204) = .70, p < .001. The simple linear regression showed that AI emotional support significantly predicted digital well-being, F(1, 204) = 194.70, p < .001 (R² = .488). The results indicated that interaction with the AI conversational system through its emotional support is significantly related to digital well-being functioning among Pakistani undergraduate students. Therefore, the study recommended that University affiliated colleges should consider AI-supported emotional tools as an adjunct to counseling and wellness services, given their meaningful link to digital wellbeing.