Mediating effect of student engagement on social network sites and academic performance of medical students

Gender variations in social media usage and academic performance among the students of University of Sharjah

Navigating Social Media in #Ophthalmology

The use of social media in the modern world is necessary to stay equipped with the fast-paced changes of the 21st century. The integration of social media platforms into the life of medical students and their effect on their academic performance has not been studied enough. This study examines the duration of time spent on social media, the type of content medical students is exposed to, the online engagement in study groups, and the influence of the interaction between students and their professors via social media on students' academic performance. A cross-sectional study that used structured self-administered online questionnaire to assess the use of social media by a random sample of 429 medical students in Jordan. The data was analyzed using descriptive and multivariate analysis by SPSS 28. Over 61.3% of participants used social media for 3 h or more per day. Instagram (48.7%) followed by Facebook (19.3%) and YouTube (11.9%) were the most utilized platforms. Entertainment content was the most pursued on social media (83.0%) followed by educational purposes (72.5%), sports (29.1%), and politics-related activities (17.9%). Approximately 64.6% of the students indicated that using social media is distracting, decreases their ability to focus (65.3%) and delays their daily tasks (61.8%). GPA was significantly associated with more time spent on social media (OR: 0.476; 95%CI: 0.278-0.813; p = 0.022). The negative impact of social networking on academic performance was significantly associated with GPA (OR: 2.292; 95%CI: 1.244-4.224; p = 0.007). This study provided evidence about the pattern and effect of using social media on the academic performance of medical students in Jordan. It delivered context-sensitive data for decision-making to enhance the positive use of social media by medical students. It also highlighted the importance of using appropriate online educational platforms to engage the medical students in relevant learning activities.

PurposeSocial media is a popular communication tool for college students in many countries including Malaysia. Even though the literature indicates that the use of social media in a higher learning environment is likely to enhance academic performance of college students, the mechanism that explains such association is yet to be explored. Based on the claims that the integration of social media use is purposeful to enhance student engagement, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of student engagement as a potential mediator between social media use and academic performance of college students in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approachA total number of 227 business students in one of the public universities in Malaysia were randomly chosen to participate in this study. Questionnaire was used as the main data collection technique, which was personally administered during class sessions. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling-partial least square (SEM-PLS).FindingsThe result showed the multidimensionality of student engagement. It also indicated that cognitive engagement mediated the relationship between social media and academic performance, but not behavioral, emotional, or agentic engagement. The result suggests that social media has the potential to be used in a learning environment as it promotes cognitive engagement of students in class and subsequently their academic performance and success.Research limitations/implicationsOne of the limitations of the present study is that the generalizability of the finding to a much larger population of students may be limited as the sampled students were recruited from business students in one of the public universities in Malaysia only. Students of different academic programs in different universities may have a different pattern of using the social media.Practical implicationsThis study will help higher learning institutions and educators think of ways to integrate the use of social media in learning activities to help students achieve better academic performance. As shown by the findings, such use can encourage students to be cognitively engagedt in class in which the students can be more active learners.Originality/valueThe present study adds to the literature in social media use by addressing the issue of how it helps enhance academic performance of college students in a single model. Past studies tended to examine the role of social media and student engagement and the effect of student engagement on academic performance separately. Furthermore, this study took into consideration various types of social media used by college students who tend to have multiple accounts.

BackgroundGiven that social media use (SMU) is an increasingly widespread activity among university students, more information is needed to evaluate its relationship with students’ mental health, particularly medical students.ObjectiveThe present study assessed the relationships between SMU and coping style with psychological distress and academic performance of medical students.MethodsAn offline cross-sectional survey conducted with 398 undergraduate medical students. The survey collected data on demographics, psychological distress (DASS-21), coping strategies (Brief COPE Scale), academic performance (grade point average) and estimated average time spent on social media per day. Structural equation modeling was used to clarify relationships between the main study variables. The study also examined the mediating effect of maladaptive coping between SMU and psychological distress.ResultsStudents with higher levels of psychological distress were more likely to be engaged in frequent social media use. Spending more than two hours a day on social media use had a positive association with maladaptive coping (p < 0.001), particularly with substance use and behavioral disengagement both of which could negatively affect academic performance. Maladaptive coping mediated the relationship between students’ SMU and psychological distress.ConclusionThe findings suggest that medical students commonly use social media as a maladaptive coping tool to deal with psychological distress. Empowering students to adopt and foster appropriate coping strategies could help them to enhance resilience against life stresses and ameliorate potential long-term mental health consequences associated with maladaptive behaviors.

We investigated the relationships between students' social media use, engagement, and academic performance, proposing that student engagement would mediate the social media use–academic performance relationship. Using survey data from 307 Chinese college students, we found that student engagement played a mediating role in the link between social media use and academic performance. In addition, the results show that the direct effect of social media use by college students on their academic performance was nonsignificant. Our results contribute to knowledge of the relationships between social media use, student engagement, and academic performance in a Chinese higher educational context. They also provide educators with meaningful implications for improving students' academic performance. Future directions for research are discussed.

Problem Statement: Social media use may be detrimental to sleep quality, self-esteem, and mental health and may affect academic performance in medical students. However, the effects of problematic social media use on sleep quality and academic performance in medical students are unknown. Approach: A total of 170 medical students in a Saudi Arabian medical school were studied. The relationships between social media use volume (duration of use per day) and addiction (measured using the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale) of seven platforms and (i) quality of sleep measured using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and (ii) academic performance according to the grade point average were examined. Caffeine intake was considered as a potential confounder, and data were analyzed using uni- and multi-variable logistic regression. Results: Poor quality sleep (72.9% and 63.5% during the week or at the weekend, respectively) and social media addiction (27.1% addicted to three or more platforms) were common. Individuals with high-volume WhatsApp (odds ratio [OR] 1.59 [1.20–2.10], P = 0.001) and Snapchat (OR 1.41 [1.10–1.81], P = 0.007) use were more likely to have very poor sleep quality at the weekend, the latter persisting in multivariable analysis. Students who were addicted to Snapchat (OR 2.53 [1.03–6.22], P = 0.044) or who were addicted to three or more social media platforms (OR 2.93 [1.19–7.23], P = 0.019) had an even greater risk of very poor weekend sleep quality. Social media addiction was not associated with academic performance. Conclusions/Recommendations: Educational programs on sleep and social media hygiene and changes to class start times to prevent weekend sleep debt should be considered.

Background: Medical undergraduates have been seen to be suffering from sleep disturbances, especially daytime sleepiness. Social Media usage or social networking has also tremendously increased over the past few years in adolescents. It has also increased in the day-to-day lives of medical students. Authors therefore tried to find out the association, if any, between social Media usage and daytime sleepiness in medical undergraduates and whether daytime sleepiness can affect their academic performance. The objective of the present study was to ascertain the association between daytime sleepiness and usage of social media among medical students and to look for any association of daytime sleepiness with academic performance.Methods: A self-administered, questionnaire-based study was conducted on medical undergraduate students to assess social media usage. Epworth sleepiness score was determined. ‘Analysis of variance’ was done to look for any association between (a) social media usage and daytime sleepiness (b) daytime sleepiness and academic performance.Results: The majority of students (77.14%) used social media for 2-5hours per day and whatsapp was the most commonly used medium by them. Highly significant association was observed between the usage of social media and daytime sleepiness among the medical undergraduates. Daytime sleepiness was also significantly related to the academic performance of the participating students.Conclusions: Sleep disturbance particularly daytime sleepiness is significantly associated with the usage of social media among first year medical undergraduates and can significantly affect their academic performance.

Background: The identification of the factors influencing the academic progress and performance of students can be a suitable basis for planning and developing educational programs to achieve the best possible results in line with educational development. Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the mediating role of stress in the relationship of mindfulness and self-construal with the academic performance of medical sciences students. Methods: This was a descriptive correlational study in which the convenience sampling method was used to select 301 medical students from Jondishapur University of Ahvaz, Iran, in 2022. The participants completed the mindfulness, self-construal, and stress questionnaires. In addition, academic performance was measured based on the grade point average (GPA) in the previous semester. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and bootstrapping were also employed to examine the fit of the proposed model and indirect relationships between the variables, respectively. Results: The mean of academic performance, mindfulness, self-construal, and stress were obtained as 16.57, 57.6, 140.53, and 29.72, respectively. The results showed a significant relationship between all research variables (P &lt; 0.05) except for the relationship between mindfulness and academic performance. The results also indicated that stress was a mediator in the indirect relationship of mindfulness and self-construal with academic performance (P &lt; 0.001). The fit indices of the Tucker–Lewis index (TLI), comparative fit index (CFI), relative fit index (RFI), normed fit index (NFI), and Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) in the final model were 0.94, 0.96, 0.92, 0.94, and 0.077, respectively. Conclusions: The results confirmed the proposed model’s goodness of fit. Therefore, this model can be used for identifying the factors affecting the academic performance of medical students and developing programs to prevent academic failure and stress among these students.

Social media are websites and applications enabling users to create or share content and communicate. The widespread use of social media among university students and easy access during class and study time raises concern about its impact on academic performance. This study aims to determine the impact of social media usage, addiction, and exposure on students' academic performance. An online cross-sectional study was conducted using convenience sampling among undergraduate medical students in Medina, KSA during the academic year 2021/2022. We used the chi-square and fisher's exact tests to determine the impact of social media usage on academic performance. 842 medical students participated in our study. 57.1% were females, 24.8% were in the 5th academic year, and 56.5% had a Grade Point Average (GPA) in the range of 4.5 to 5. Moreover, 26.1% of the students use social networking sites for 3-4 hours, and males are more addicted to social media than females. Our results showed that students with excellent GPAs (GPA ≥ 4.5) are less likely to be addicted to social media networks (54.8%), and they perceive that using social media is not helping to improve their grades compared to other students. Also, showed that those who are addicted to social media benefit from the use of social media to improve their grades. There is no significant difference between genders in social media usage as if it helps them improve their grades. Moreover, no difference between the academic years in addiction and usage of social media. This study has revealed that students with higher levels were less addicted to social media, and those who are addicted benefit from using social media to improve their grades. We call for using social media as a supporting tool for academic performance and achievement among university students.

The importance and frequency of social media in marketing communication is undeniable today, especially when the target of such communication are young people (and the puropse is advertising and overall improvement of internal communication). Social media are the main source of information for youth as well as virtual space where they can express and present themselves in the best possible way. The significant role of using social media in everyday communication has been recognized by institutions of higher education and they have become an essential part of their marketing mix. Ultimately, the students are the ones who have the main role in acquiring new communication technologies and their communication networks have tendency to be dense and layered (Quan-Haase, 2007). That is the reason why new technologies like social media are mostly accepted and used by high school and university students. In this paper authors analyse the meaning, influence and usage of social media in the context of institutions of higher education and present the findings of an online survey conducted among teachers in such institutions in Croatia. By analysing the results, authors got 104 replies who helped them to get an insight into activities of institutions of higher education on social media as well as the usage of certain social media by private institutions compared with the public ones. This research confirmed that private institutions of higher education are on the overall more active in the usage of social media. However, Chi-squared test showed almost no difference in usage of the most popular social media Facebook and Instagram in private and public institutions of higher education, whereas there is a difference in usage of other social media. In this research, the intensity of certain social media usage in general in Croatia was also compared with the level of their usage in institutions of higher education.

Cooperative Mentorship: Negotiating Social Media Use within the Family

The research aimed to contribute to investigate the impact of social networking media on academic performance, health and social interactions in Oman. It is a causal study as it studied the impact of social media usage on academics, social interactions and health. The study area was University of Technology and Applied sciences, Nizwa. The period of study was from February 2023 to May 2023. The total population of students studying in University of Technology and Applied Sciences, Nizwa is 5692 A sample of 242 students were selected for the study from four departments. Samples were designed from students in each department by using proportionate stratified sampling. Primary data was collected online using Google form, with the help of a structured questionnaire in English and Arabic. The findings of the study revealed that the correlation between social media usage and health issues is 0.174. There is a significant relationship between social media usage and its impact on health. Social media usage contributes only 3% to health issues on the students. The correlation between social media usage and social interactions and behaviour is 0.264. 7% of the variation in social behaviour can be predicted due to usage of social media. It is proved that there is a significant relationship between social media usage and its impact on social interactions and behavior of students. The correlation between social media usage and academic performance is 0.271. Social media usage contributes only 7% to academic performance of the students. It is proved that there is a significant relationship between social media usage and its impact on academic performance of students, their health and behaviour. There is no significant relationship between gender, department, level of study and grade with the usage of social media.

Social media usage is known to harness new lifestyle among the youth. Use of social media promotes the negative as well as positive consequences for the students in general and academic life. This study examined the relationship between social media usage, multitasking of social media, and students' academic self-efficacy on students' academic performance among Malaysian youth. The current work also evaluates the mediating effect of students' academic self-efficacy on social media usage and social media multitasking on their academic performance. This study embraced a cross-sectional research design and quantitative data collected from 644 Malaysian students of higher education institutions. The collected data were analysed using SPSS v23 and PLS-SEM-based SmartPLS 3.1. The findings revealed that social media usage and social media multitasking are positively and significantly related to students' self-efficacy. Moreover, the results also showed that social media usage and multitasking, and students' self-efficacy are significantly associated with their academic performance. The results also exposed the mediational effect of students' self-efficacy on the relationship between social media multitasking and students' academic performance in higher education. The study recommends that by initiating the self-efficacy program in promoting social media's academic use and multitasking among Malaysian higher education students would result in better performance. Keywords: Social Media, self-efficacy, multitasking, media usage, academic performance.

The increasing prevalence of social media has given rise to the Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) phenomenon, characterized by an acute awareness of the rewarding experiences others might be enjoying. FoMO is hypothesized to affect various aspects of individuals' lives, including their psychological well-being and academic performance. This study explores these relationships among university students, a demographic particularly vulnerable to social media influences. To examine the relationships between FoMO, social media use, psychological well-being (as measured by life satisfaction), and academic performance (as measured by GPA) among university students and determine the mediating roles of FoMO and social media use. A quantitative, correlational design was employed, collecting data from 521 university students through a cross-sectional survey. Participants completed the Fear of Missing Out Scale (FoMO), the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS), and self-reported GPA. Social media use was assessed via a customized questionnaire. Data were analyzed using SPSS, employing correlation analysis, multiple regression, and mediation analysis. Findings indicated a strong positive association between FoMO and social media use (R 2 = 0.633, p < 0.001), suggesting that higher levels of FoMO lead to increased social media engagement (B = 0.834, p < 0.001). Contrary to expectations, FoMO was positively rather than negatively correlated with life satisfaction (R 2 = 0.064, p < 0.001, B = 0.158). Additionally, a strong positive correlation was observed between social media use and academic performance (Spearman's rho = 0.765, p < 0.001). Mediation analyses revealed that FoMO does not significantly mediate the relationship between social media use and life satisfaction, as the indirect effect was not statistically significant (B = 0.0785, 95% CI: -0.0164 to 0.1467). Similarly, the non-significant indirect effect indicated that social media use did not mediate the relationship between FoMO and academic performance (B = 0.005, 95% CI: -0.0045 to 0.0146). Moderation analyses showed that FoMO moderates the relationship between social media use and life satisfaction, where social media use hurt life satisfaction at low levels of FoMO (B = -0.1713, p = 0.0001) but had a positive effect at high levels of FoMO (B = 0.2848, p < 0.0001). This suggests that individuals with high FoMO may derive psychological benefits from social media use. Additionally, results indicated that social media use moderates the relationship between FoMO and academic performance, where FoMO had a significant adverse effect on GPA at low social media use (B = -0.030, p < 0.0001). Still, this effect became non-significant at high levels of social media use (B = 0.0097, p = 0.1028). Finally, life satisfaction moderates the relationship between FoMO and social media use, with higher life satisfaction strengthening the positive association between FoMO and social media use (B = 0.9277, p < 0.0001). These findings highlight the complex interplay between FoMO, social media use, life satisfaction, and academic performance. While FoMO increases social media engagement, its positive association with life satisfaction contradicts theoretical expectations. These results underscore the importance of considering psychological and social factors when evaluating the impact of social media use among university students.