A Deeper Look into the Complex Relationship between Social Media Use and Academic Outcomes and Attitudes.
Year: 2016
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Introduction.The use of social media is prevalent among college students, and it is important to understand how social media use may impact students' attitudes and behaviour.Prior studies have shown negative outcomes of social media use, but researchers have not fully discovered or fully understand the processes and implications of these negative effects.This research provides additional scientific knowledge by focussing on mediators of social media use and controlling for key confounding variables.Method.Surveys that captured social media use, various attitudes about academics and life, and personal characteristics were completed by 234 undergraduate students at a large U.S. university.Analysis.We used covariance-based structural equation modelling to analyse the response data. Results.Results indicated that after controlling for self-regulation, social media use was negatively associated with academic self-efficacy and academic performance.Additionally, academic self-efficacy mediated the negative relationship between social media use and satisfaction with life.Conclusion.There are negative relationships between social media use and academic performance, as well as with academic self-efficacy beliefs.Academic self-efficacy beliefs mediate the negative relationship between social media use and satisfaction with life.These relationships are present even when controlling for individuals' levels of self-regulation.There are likely to be many implications from the culture or habit of social media use on society.One particular area of interest or concern is how social media use affects learning in college students.The use of social media is prevalent among college students.A 2013 survey found that 89% of online-adults, aged 18-29 years, used at least one social media site (Duggan and Smith, 2013) and the frequency of individuals' use of social media sites was increasing (Duggan, Ellison, Lampe, Lenhart and Madden, 2015).Anecdotal evidence from the college classroom suggests that even during class times, students give a precious amount of their time, attention and cognitive resources to social media and applications on their electronic devices.In research that has studied some of the implications of social media use on various academic outcomes, several studies have found negative correlations between social media usage and academic activities (e.g., Frein, Jones and Gerow, 2013; Junco, 2012b;Kirschner and Karpinski, 2010).However, we do not have definitive conclusions about the impacts of high social media use, and we lack the understanding of how and why the use of social media appears to contribute to or How to cite this paper Hassell, M. D. and Sukalich, M. F. (2015).A deeper look into the complex relationship between social media use and academic outcomes and attitudes.Information Research, 22(1), paper 742.Retrieved
Authors: Martin D. Hassell, Mary F. Sukalich
Language: English
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2612528855