Gendered digital coping and cultural moderation: developing the GDCAM model among university students in Makassar

This study examines how undergraduate students in Makassar, Indonesia, use smartphones as coping mechanisms to manage psychological distress related to academic pressure, uncertainty, and social demands. Adopting a qualitative phenomenological approach, the study involved 18 participants from three universities, selected based on low, moderate, and high distress levels using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21). Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. The findings identify four dominant forms of digital coping: digital entertainment, academic information-seeking, online social support, and digital religiosity. These strategies operate as a dynamic and communicatively enacted system, where students shift between emotional regulation, problem-solving, and relational interaction through smartphone use. The study further reveals that gender shapes coping orientations, with female students emphasizing relational and emotion-focused communication, while male students rely more on indirect and problem-focused strategies. Importantly, local cultural values, particularly siri' na pacce , function as active moderators that regulate emotional expression, disclosure patterns, and communication boundaries in digital environments. These findings lead to the development of the Gendered Digital Coping Adaptation Model (GDCAM), which conceptualizes digital coping as a cyclical and context-dependent process shaped by psychological distress, mediated communication, gender norms, and cultural values. Theoretically, this study advances digital coping research by integrating communication, cultural, and gender perspectives, moving beyond individualistic and Western-centric frameworks. Practically, the findings highlight the need for culturally grounded and gender-responsive digital mental health interventions that align with students' communication practices.