Self-Regulation and Social Network Sites Use as a Factors of Academic Motivation

Abstract

The development of Social Network Sites (SNS) leads to changes in everyday life and behavior of young adults. Recent studies mentioned the association between SNS addiction and deficits in self-control and regulation and adverse impacts on well-being and emotional states. The problem of this study is to reveal the relations between the Intensity of SNS use and SNS Intrusion and self-regulation features as well as the associations with academic motivation. The sample consists of 197 undergraduate students aged 18-24. The Intensity of SNS use and SNS Intrusion, self-regulation parameters, emotional regulation features (cognitive reappraisal and suppression), and academic motivation (internal, external motivation, and amotivation) were measured. For the data analysis was used correlations and regression analyses. The findings concerning the SNS behavior are the following: the intensity of SNS use has age, sex, and self-regulation of activity as significant predictors; sex and self-regulation of activity reveal as predictors for the SNS Intrusion. Personality factors of self-regulation are not associated with SNS frequency use and addiction. In contrast, internal motivation associates with the Intensity of SNS use, and external motivation and amotivation are positively linked with SNS Intrusion. Thus, the lack of self-regulation increases the adverse effects of SNS use, especially for women. The intensity of social network use increases, and the Social Network Sites addiction features decrease internal motivation.