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Social Media Use and Academic Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Grit

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Title: Social Media Use and Academic Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Grit
Language: English
Authors: El-Lim Kim (ORCID 0000-0002-1019-3550), Douglas A. Gentile, Jennifer Ruh Linder
Source: Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal. 2025 28(1).
Availability: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: Social Media, Outcomes of Education, Integrity, Attention, Self Efficacy, Undergraduate Students, Student Characteristics, Student Attitudes, Student Behavior
DOI: 10.1007/s11218-024-09973-5
ISSN: 1381-2890
1573-1928
Abstract: The present study examined the associations among social media use and academic self-efficacy, academic procrastination, and academic achievement. Grit was proposed as the potential mediator between social media use and different academic variables. Two samples of undergraduate students recruited from two different universities in the U.S. (Study 1 N = 118 and Study 2 N = 385) completed a set of questionnaires. Results demonstrated that more social media use was not directly related to academic procrastination or academic self-efficacy; however, grit fully mediated the relation between social media use and academic procrastination/academic self-efficacy. Social media use was not significantly associated with academic achievement (measured by GPA) when academic self-efficacy, procrastination, and grit were taken into account. Results suggest that individual differences in academic beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors may explain the association between social media use and academic outcomes.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2024
Accession Number: EJ1453145
Database: ERIC
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  Value: <anid>AN0181643170;luo01feb.25;2025Jan29.13:04;v2.2.500</anid> <title id="AN0181643170-1">Social media use and academic outcomes: the mediating role of grit </title> <p>The present study examined the associations among social media use and academic self-efficacy, academic procrastination, and academic achievement. Grit was proposed as the potential mediator between social media use and different academic variables. Two samples of undergraduate students recruited from two different universities in the U.S. (Study 1 N = 118 and Study 2 N = 385) completed a set of questionnaires. Results demonstrated that more social media use was not directly related to academic procrastination or academic self-efficacy; however, grit fully mediated the relation between social media use and academic procrastination/academic self-efficacy. Social media use was not significantly associated with academic achievement (measured by GPA) when academic self-efficacy, procrastination, and grit were taken into account. Results suggest that individual differences in academic beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors may explain the association between social media use and academic outcomes.</p> <p>Keywords: Social media use; Academic self-efficacy; Procrastination; Academic achievement; Grit; Psychology and Cognitive Sciences Psychology</p> <p>Copyright comment Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-2">Introduction</hd> <p>Social media such as social networking sites, video-sharing platforms, and text messengers are now both pervasive and essential. With the growing integration of media use in day-to-day functions, much research attention has been given to whether such prevalent social media use could have potential negative effects on learning, especially on academic outcomes. There is evidence supporting both sides of the argument. On the one hand, internet-connected media use can promote students' academic performance if it is used for educational purposes (e.g., Boahene et al., [<reflink idref="bib5" id="ref1">5</reflink>]). In fact, many students recognize educational benefits of using internet-connected devices such as smartphones to access information online to advance their learning (Tossell et al., [<reflink idref="bib45" id="ref2">45</reflink>]).</p> <p>On the other hand, there is research suggesting that media use may negatively impact academic outcomes (see Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref3">27</reflink>]). For example, undergraduate students who used internet-connected media during class for non-academic purposes performed worse on the final exam (Ravizza et al., [<reflink idref="bib34" id="ref4">34</reflink>]). Time spent on the internet was negatively associated with academic performance among children and adolescents (Adelantado-Renau et al., [<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref5">2</reflink>]), and more frequent phone use among undergraduates was related to lower grade point average (GPA) after controlling for high school GPA and academic self-efficacy (Lepp et al., [<reflink idref="bib25" id="ref6">25</reflink>]). These findings suggest that excessive amounts of non-educational activities via social media (such as texting friends, browsing social networking site (SNS), watching online videos) could negatively influence academic performance and achievement, possibly by distracting students from learning and engaging with academic tasks. Specifically, students who are more frequent users of social media may have lower level of grit (i.e., perseverance in the face of challenge and passion for long-term goals), which is a known predictor of academic success (Teriba & Foley-Nicpon, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref7">44</reflink>]). Therefore, the broad goal of the present study is to examine the relations among social media use, grit, and academic outcomes among undergraduate students.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-3">Social media use and academic outcomes</hd> <p>Previous studies have examined the association between social media use and negative academic outcomes, namely, high academic procrastination and low academic self-efficacy. Academic procrastination refers to purposefully delaying initiation or completion of academic tasks (Schouwenburg, [<reflink idref="bib38" id="ref8">38</reflink>]). Studies found that excessive and intensive media and device engagement are associated with academic procrastination and furthermore with poor academic achievement. Problematic social media users were more likely to procrastinate on academic tasks than non-problematic users (Serrano et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref9">39</reflink>]; Üztemur & Di̇nç, [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref10">48</reflink>]), and students who exhibited smartphone dependency (<emph>vs</emph>. no dependency) were also more likely to procrastinate (Li et al., [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref11">26</reflink>]). Furthermore, a study based on adolescents found the relation between media and technology use (including social media use) and low academic achievement (measured using GPA) was mediated by academic procrastination (Türel & Dokumaci, [<reflink idref="bib47" id="ref12">47</reflink>]).</p> <p>Social media use was also related to academic self-efficacy, or beliefs and attitudes related to the student's own perceived ability to successfully complete academic tasks and engage in learning (Bong & Skaalvik, [<reflink idref="bib6" id="ref13">6</reflink>]). More use of social networking sites (SNS) such as Facebook was associated with lower academic self-efficacy (McNallie et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref14">29</reflink>]; Shank & Cotton, [<reflink idref="bib40" id="ref15">40</reflink>]; Valdez & Datu, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref16">49</reflink>]). Likewise, undergraduates who used more social media reported lower academic self-efficacy and lower GPA; such pattern persisted even after controlling for trait self-regulation (Hassell & Sukalich, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref17">15</reflink>]). Finally, problematic smartphone use and problematic internet use were both associated with low academic self-efficacy (Li et al., [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref18">26</reflink>]; Odaci, [<reflink idref="bib32" id="ref19">32</reflink>]). Taken together, these findings demonstrate that extensive and excessive use of social media is correlated with negative academic outcomes. More frequent use of social media could be associated with academic procrastination and academic self-efficacy, as it may interfere with students' learning process and academic tasks. Thus, the present study proposes the following hypotheses.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-4">H1</hd> <p>More social media use is related to a higher level of academic procrastination.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-5">H2</hd> <p>More social media use is related to a lower level of academic self-efficacy.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-6">The mediating role of grit</hd> <p>There are several explanations for the negative association between social media use and academic outcomes, such as negative psychological effects experienced by students for being cognitively preoccupied with the media (e.g., Cao et al., [<reflink idref="bib7" id="ref20">7</reflink>]), media as a source of distraction for learning and completing academic tasks (e.g., Masood et al., [<reflink idref="bib28" id="ref21">28</reflink>]), and negative consequences of multitasking with media while studying (e.g., Karpinski et al., [<reflink idref="bib19" id="ref22">19</reflink>]). These explanations are in alignment with the displacement hypothesis (Kraut et al., [<reflink idref="bib23" id="ref23">23</reflink>]; Mutz et al., [<reflink idref="bib30" id="ref24">30</reflink>]), which argues that the negative consequences of media use could be due to the fact that media activities displace other academic, social, and leisure activities. In other words, non-academic related activities such as social media use could be related to poor academic outcomes by taking students' time and resources away from learning. Accumulated research findings lend support to such perspective. For example, undergraduate students who spend more hours on the internet and SNS were more likely to report worse academic performance (Abu-Snieneh et al., [<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref25">1</reflink>]; Guo et al., [<reflink idref="bib14" id="ref26">14</reflink>]; Liu et al., [<reflink idref="bib27" id="ref27">27</reflink>]). Specific SNS activities such as posting status updates and chatting through Facebook were associated with lower GPA (Junco, [<reflink idref="bib17" id="ref28">17</reflink>]), and more time spent on video sharing social media sites such as YouTube for entertainment was related to lower GPA among Hispanic students (Zavala et al., [<reflink idref="bib50" id="ref29">50</reflink>]). It appears that more time spent on social media could deter students from achieving their academic goals because such activities displace time spent on studying and learning.</p> <p>What has not been studied, to our knowledge, is how social media use may be related to willingness to persevere in learning activities, especially when they require some frustration tolerance. Social media allows users to immediately acquire new information, as a simple search or scroll instantly grants the users the content they desire. In contrast, learning is a rather slower process that often does not result in immediate fulfillment of students' needs. It is possible that present-day youth (born after the 2000s), who grew up knowing that any information can be acquired within a few seconds through the internet, are also accustomed to immediate fulfillment of needs. That is, they may become less willing to put in substantial effort to learn and problem-solve if they are more used to acquiring information from the internet with little delay-of-gratification. We hypothesized that people who use social media more will therefore exhibit a lower level of grit, defined as the "perseverance and passion for long-term goals" (p. 1087, Duckworth et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref30">10</reflink>]).</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-7">H3</hd> <p>More social media use is related to a lower level of grit.</p> <p>Indeed, previous findings have demonstrated a negative association between media use and trait grit. For example, more media use was related to less grit among children and adolescents (Cardoso-Leite et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref31">8</reflink>]; Lan & Wang, [<reflink idref="bib24" id="ref32">24</reflink>]). Likewise, undergraduates who exhibit problematic patterns of social media use reported lower grit (Ch'ng & Hoo, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref33">9</reflink>]; Siah et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref34">41</reflink>]). In contrast, past research suggested that individuals who are "gritty" may have better sustained attention (Kalia et al., [<reflink idref="bib18" id="ref35">18</reflink>]). An experimental study involving undergraduates found that the ability to resist distractors (assessed by the Flanker task, a cognitive test of selective attention and inhibitory control) moderated the relation between perseverance facet of grit and problematic smartphone use. Specifically, higher trait perseverance was associated with lower level of problematic phone use among individuals with mean (or with one standard deviation above the mean) level of distracter resistance. Those with low distractor resistance were more likely to report higher level of problematic smartphone use, regardless of the trait perseverance level (Khoo & Yang, [<reflink idref="bib20" id="ref36">20</reflink>]). These findings suggest that grittier individuals may be less negatively influenced by social media use, which in turn is associated with better academic outcomes. Hence, the following hypotheses were proposed.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-8">H4</hd> <p>The relation between social media use and academic procrastination is mediated by grit.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-9">H5</hd> <p>The relation between social media use and academic self-efficacy is mediated by grit.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-10">Grit and academic success</hd> <p>Past literature has identified grit as a possible predictor of academic success, as individuals with a high level of grit would strive to achieve a long-term goal with passion and perseverance (Duckworth et al., [<reflink idref="bib10" id="ref37">10</reflink>]; Howard et al., [<reflink idref="bib16" id="ref38">16</reflink>]; Tang et al., [<reflink idref="bib43" id="ref39">43</reflink>]). Regardless of the fields of studies or programs, undergraduate students with a high level of grit had better GPA (Teriba & Foley-Nicpon, [<reflink idref="bib44" id="ref40">44</reflink>]), and students with high levels of consistency of interest (but not perseverance) facet of grit were more likely to complete learning modules and progress through the course (Neroni et al., [<reflink idref="bib31" id="ref41">31</reflink>]). Another study found that students with high self-esteem were more likely to report high levels of grit, which was further associated with greater academic enthusiasm and academic achievement (Kim et al., [<reflink idref="bib21" id="ref42">21</reflink>]). Notably, grit (assessed during the mid-semester period) predicted better final exam grades among a sample of Italian undergraduates during the COVID-19 lockdown, with self-efficacy mediating the relation (Sulla et al., [<reflink idref="bib42" id="ref43">42</reflink>]), suggesting that students with a high level of grit were able to continue pursuing their academic goals and achieving academic success despite situational difficulties and distractions from home environment. Given these findings, the following hypotheses were formed.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-11">H6</hd> <p>The relation between social media use and academic achievement is serially mediated by grit and academic procrastination.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-12">H7</hd> <p>The relation between social media use and academic achievement is serially mediated by grit and academic self-efficacy.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-13">The present study</hd> <p>Hypotheses were tested using data from two distinct undergraduate student samples. Study 1 (<emph>N</emph> = 118) served as the preliminary study to test H1–H5, with a focus on the association between social media use and academic outcomes (e.g., academic procrastination, academic self-efficacy), using grit as the potential mediator. Study 2 (<emph>N</emph> = 385) was a replication and extension of Study 1, additionally testing H6–H7 that the association between media use and academic achievement (e.g., GPA) would be serially mediated by grit and different academic outcomes.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-14">Study 1</hd> <p>The goal of Study 1 was to test the associations among media use, grit, and two specific academic outcomes (e.g., academic procrastination, academic self-efficacy) among undergraduate students. It was hypothesized that media use would be positively associated with academic procrastination and negatively associated with academic self-efficacy (H1, H2), and media use would be related to grit (H3), which, in turn, would statistically predict academic outcomes (H4, H5).</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-15">Method</hd> <p>The study was approved by the university's Institutional Review Board (IRB), and all participants were treated in accordance with American Psychological Association (APA) ethical guidelines. A total of 118 participants (78% female, <emph>M</emph><subs>age</subs> = 19.42, <emph>SD</emph> = 1.40) from a private university in the Pacific Northwest of the U.S. participated in the study in exchange for course credit and an opportunity to win monetary compensation. After informed consent, participants completed an online survey that included the measure described below. Most participants self-identified as White (62.7%), followed by Hispanic (17.8%), Asian (10.2%), Black (1.7%), and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander (1.7%); the remaining participants did not report their racial demographics.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-16">Measures</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0181643170-17">Social media use</hd> <p>Four items were used to assess the amount of social media use. The first two items were adopted from the <emph>Social Media, Social Life</emph> survey from Common Sense Media (Rideout & Robb, [<reflink idref="bib35" id="ref44">35</reflink>]) to measure how often participants used social media, which was defined as "any websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking, such as Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, etc." Participants were asked to report how often they (<reflink idref="bib1" id="ref45">1</reflink>) posted on social media and (<reflink idref="bib2" id="ref46">2</reflink>) checked social media. Additional items were created to assess how often participants (<reflink idref="bib3" id="ref47">3</reflink>) viewed or posted on video-sharing apps (e.g., YouTube, TikTok) and (<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref48">4</reflink>) messaged others using media (e.g., texting, in-app chatting/direct messaging). All items were measured using a 10-point Likert-type scale (1 = never, 5 = a few times a week, 10 = almost constantly). A mean score of the four items was used as a measure of social media use.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-18">Grit</hd> <p>Short Grit Scale (Grit-S; Duckworth & Quinn, [<reflink idref="bib11" id="ref49">11</reflink>]) was used to measure trait grit. Grit-S consists of two subscales (i.e., perseverance of effort, consistency of interest). Participants read 8 statements and rated them on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = not at all like me, 5 = very much like me). Sample item includes "I am a hard worker (perseverance of effort)" and "I often set a goal but later choose to pursue a different one (reverse scored; consistency of interest)." A higher score indicates a higher level of grit. In this study, the internal reliability of the scale (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.73.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-19">Academic procrastination</hd> <p>Academic procrastination was assessed using the Procrastination Scale developed by Tuckman ([<reflink idref="bib46" id="ref50">46</reflink>]). This scale consists of 16 items on different procrastinating behaviors (e.g., "I promise myself I'll do something and then drag my feet"), rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale (1 = not at all like me, 5 = very much like me). For the study, participants were specifically instructed to think about their academics and being a college student as they completed the scale. A higher score demonstrates greater academic procrastination. In this study, Cronbach's alpha of the scale was 0.82.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-20">Academic self-efficacy</hd> <p>Academic self-efficacy was measured using the College Academic Self-Efficacy Scale (CASES; Owen & Froman, [<reflink idref="bib33" id="ref51">33</reflink>]). Participants rated their confidence in engaging in 32 different academic activities (e.g., "writing a high-quality paper", "understanding most ideas presented in class") on a 5-point Likert-type scale, ranging from 1 (none at all) to 5 (a great deal). A higher score on the scale shows a higher level of academic self-efficacy. In this study, Cronbach's alpha of the scale was 0.90.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-21">Results</hd> <p>Descriptive statistics and correlations of all variables are summarized in Table 1. All variables met the normality assumptions recommended by Kline ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref52">22</reflink>]) with the absolute value of skewness < 3 and the absolute value of kurtosis < 10. The mean score for the social media use was 6.43 (<emph>SD</emph> = 1.08) in this sample, indicating that participants on average reported engaging in media use at least once a day. As expected, social media use was negatively correlated with grit (<emph>r</emph> = − 0.21, <emph>p</emph> = 0.03) and academic self-efficacy (<emph>r</emph> = − 0.19, <emph>p</emph> = 0.04). Grit was positively correlated with academic self-efficacy (<emph>r</emph> = 0.35, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001) but negatively correlated with procrastination (<emph>r</emph> = − 0.73, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001).</p> <p>Table 1 Descriptive statistics and zero-order bivariate correlations for Study 1 (N = 118)</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" /><th align="left"><p>1</p></th><th align="left"><p>2</p></th><th align="left"><p>3</p></th><th align="left"><p>4</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>1. Social media use</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>2. Grit</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.21*</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>3. Procrastination</p></td><td align="left"><p>.24**</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.73***</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>4. Academic self-efficacy</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.19*</p></td><td align="left"><p>.35***</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.45***</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>M (SD)</p></td><td align="left"><p>6.43 (1.08)</p></td><td align="left"><p>3.42 (.57)</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.81 (.85)</p></td><td align="left"><p>3.41 (.50)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Skewness</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.42</p></td><td align="left"><p>.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>.23</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.22</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Kurtosis</p></td><td align="left"><p>.60</p></td><td align="left"><p>.49</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.37</p></td><td align="left"><p>.36</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p>*<emph>p</emph> <.05, **<emph>p</emph> <.01, ***<emph>p</emph> <.001</p> <p>Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed mediation model. Mplus 7.0 was used to conduct the analysis. A latent model with procrastination and academic self-efficacy regressed on social media use as the exogenous variable was fitted, with grit as the mediator. The factorial algorithm method (Rogers & Schmitt, [<reflink idref="bib36" id="ref53">36</reflink>]) was used to parcel the items for the latent variables, and all factor loadings exceeded 0.30 as recommended by Kline ([<reflink idref="bib22" id="ref54">22</reflink>]). The model fit was adequate, with χ<sups>2</sups>(<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref55">39</reflink>) = 63.87, <emph>p</emph> = 0.01, CFI = 0.97, RMSEA = 0.07. The resulting model is presented in Fig. 1, with significant paths (<emph>p</emph> < 0.05) marked with solid lines. Standardized path coefficient estimates and standard errors (in parentheses) are also presented.</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 1 Study 1 mediation model. Note. * p <.05, ** p <.01, *** p <.001; significant paths (p <.05) marked with solid lines. Standardized path coefficient estimates and standard errors (in parentheses)</p> <p>There was no direct association between social media use and the two academic outcomes (i.e., academic procrastination, academic self-efficacy). Social media use was associated with lower level of grit (β = − 0.27, SE = 0.11, <emph>p</emph> = 0.01). Grit was associated with less academic procrastination (β = − 0.93, SE = 0.07, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001) and more academic self-efficacy (β = 0.42, SE = 0.12, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001). Mediation analysis was conducted using the maximum likelihood estimation method. Grit mediated the relation between social media use and procrastination (β = 0.25, SE = 0.11, <emph>p</emph> = 0.02, 95% CI [0.05, 0.52]), and the relation between social media use and academic self-efficacy (β = − 0.12, SE = 0.06, <emph>p</emph> = 0.04, 95% CI [− 0.23, − 0.01]).</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-22">Discussion</hd> <p>Contrary to the hypotheses (H1-H2), there was no significant direct association between social media use and academic procrastination or academic self-efficacy, with the mediating variable included in the model. That is, students who use more social media are not necessarily lower in academic self-efficacy or more likely to procrastinate on academic tasks. As expected (H3), more frequent social media use was related to a lower level of grit, and individuals with low grit were more likely to procrastinate and report lower self-efficacy in successfully engaging in academic activities. The mediation analysis demonstrated that students who use social media more frequently reported lower trait levels of grit and were also more likely to procrastinate, supporting H4 (mediated β = 0.24). More social media use was also indirectly related to lower academic self-efficacy through grit (mediated β = − 0.12), further supporting H5.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-23">Study 2</hd> <p>Study 1 confirmed that more frequent social media use was related to lower grit, which was associated with higher academic self-efficacy and less academic procrastination. The purpose of Study 2 was to replicate the finding with a larger sample from a different university to confirm the robustness of the results. Study 2 also included a direct measure of academic outcome (e.g., GPA) to further test the mediational model of Study 1. It was expected that more social media use would be associated with less grit, which would be related to more procrastination and less academic self-efficacy, and furthermore, lower GPA (H6, H7). The study was approved by the university's IRB, and all participants were treated in accordance with American Psychological Association (APA) ethical guidelines.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-24">Method</hd> <p>Participants for Study 2 were 385 undergraduate students (60.8% female,<emph> M</emph><subs><emph>age</emph></subs> = 19.56, <emph>SD</emph> = 1.33) enrolled in introductory psychology courses at a large public Midwestern university in the U.S. About 75.9% of the participants self-identified as White, 9.4% as Hispanic, 7.0% as Asian, 3.9% as Black, 0.5% as American Indian or Alaskan Native, 0.5% as Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and the remaining participants did not report their racial demographics. Participants voluntarily signed up for the study in exchange for course credits. After the informed consent procedure, participants completed an online survey, which consisted of the same scales used in Study 1, such as social media use, grit (Cronbach's alpha = 0.74), procrastination (alpha = 0.94), and academic self-efficacy (alpha = 0.91). In addition, 375 out of the total 385 participants self-reported their GPA (maximum 4.0).</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-25">Results</hd> <p>Table 2 summarizes the descriptive statistics and correlations of the study variables. The results were similar to those of Study 1, with more social media use correlated with less grit, lower academic self-efficacy and more academic procrastination. Grit was related to less academic procrastination and higher academic self-efficacy. Finally, there was no significant correlation between social media use frequency and GPA. The correlation between GPA and academic procrastination was marginally significant (<emph>p</emph> = 0.054).</p> <p>Table 2 Descriptive statistics and zero-order bivariate correlations for study 2 (N = 385)</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left" /><th align="left"><p>1</p></th><th align="left"><p>2</p></th><th align="left"><p>3</p></th><th align="left"><p>4</p></th><th align="left"><p>5</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>1. Social media use</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>2. Grit</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.12*</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>3. Procrastination</p></td><td align="left"><p>.19***</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.66***</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td><td align="left" /><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>4. Academic self-efficacy</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.14**</p></td><td align="left"><p>.43***</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.44***</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td><td align="left" /></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>5. GPA</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.05</p></td><td align="left"><p>.02</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.10<sup>+</sup></p></td><td align="left"><p>.05</p></td><td align="left"><p>–</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>M (SD)</p></td><td align="left"><p>6.40 (1.16)</p></td><td align="left"><p>3.24 (.54)</p></td><td align="left"><p>2.84 (.75)</p></td><td align="left"><p>3.17 (.54)</p></td><td align="left"><p>3.24 (0.53)</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Skewness</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.28</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.25</p></td><td align="left"><p>.28</p></td><td align="left"><p>.05</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.73</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Kurtosis</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.77</p></td><td align="left"><p>.17</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.17</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.18</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.04</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <p> <sups>+</sups> <emph>p</emph> <.06, *<emph>p</emph> <.05, **<emph>p</emph> <.01, ***<emph>p</emph> <.001</p> <p>The structural equation modeling procedure was used to test the proposed mediation model. The only difference between the model in Study 1 and in Study 2 was the addition of GPA as the endogenous variable, with GPA regressed on procrastination and academic self-efficacy. The model fit indices were χ<sups><emph>2</emph></sups>(<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref56">48</reflink>) = 102.50, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001, CFI = 0.98, RMSEA = 0.054. The results are presented in Fig. 2; significant paths (<emph>p</emph> < 0.05) are marked with solid lines, with standardized path coefficient estimates and standard errors (in parentheses).</p> <p>Graph: Fig. 2 Study 2 Mediation Model. Note. + p <.06, * p <.05, ** p <.01, *** p <.001; significant paths (p <.05) marked with solid lines. Standardized path coefficient estimates and standard errors (in parentheses)</p> <p>There was no direct association between social media use and academic procrastination (β = 0.07, SE = 0.05, <emph>p</emph> = 0.16) or academic self-efficacy (β = − 0.07, SE = 0.05, <emph>p</emph> = 0.22). Social media use was related to lower level of grit (β = − 0.15, SE = 0.07, <emph>p</emph> = 0.02). Grit was associated with less self-reported academic procrastination (β = − 0.87, SE = 0.04, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001), which was inversely related to GPA (β = − 0.16, SE = 0.06, <emph>p</emph> = 01). Grit was associated with higher academic self-efficacy (β = 0.60, SE = 0.06, <emph>p</emph> < 0.001). Academic self-efficacy was not significantly related to GPA, although approaching statistical significance (β = − 0.12, SE = 0.06, <emph>p</emph> = 0.052).</p> <p>As with Study 1, indirect effects were tested using the maximum likelihood estimation method. Grit mediated the association between social media use and procrastination, β = 0.13, SE = 0.06, <emph>p</emph> = 0.02, 95% CI [0.02, 0.24]. Grit also mediated the association between social media use and academic self-efficacy, β = − 0.09, SE = 0.04, <emph>p</emph> = 0.03, 95% CI [− 0.17, − 0.01]. None of the other indirect effects were significant. Table 3 provides detailed mediation analysis results.</p> <p>Table 3 Study 2 indirect effects summary</p> <p> <ephtml> <table frame="hsides" rules="groups"><thead><tr><th align="left"><p>Mediation paths</p></th><th align="left"><p>Beta</p></th><th align="left"><p>SE</p></th><th align="left"><p>95% CI</p></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="left"><p>Social media use → Grit → Procrastination</p></td><td align="left"><p>.13</p></td><td align="left"><p>.06</p></td><td align="left"><p>[.02,.24]</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Social media use → Procrastination → Grade</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>[−.03,.01]</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Social media use → Grit → Procrastination → Grade</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.02</p></td><td align="left"><p>.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>[−.05,.00]</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Social media use → Grit → Academic self-efficacy</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.09</p></td><td align="left"><p>.04</p></td><td align="left"><p>[−.17, −.01]</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Social media use → Academic self-efficacy → Grade</p></td><td align="left"><p> −.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>[.00,.02]</p></td></tr><tr><td align="left"><p>Social media use → Grit → Academic self-efficacy → Grade</p></td><td align="left"><p>.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>.01</p></td><td align="left"><p>[−.01,.03]</p></td></tr></tbody></table> </ephtml> </p> <hd id="AN0181643170-26">Discussion</hd> <p>Study 2 replicated the findings from Study 1 that social media use was associated with lower level of grit, and grit is associated with less academic procrastination and more academic self-efficacy. As with Study 1, grit mediated the association between social media use and procrastination, and the association between social media use and academic self-efficacy. That is, those who used social media more frequently were less likely to be "gritty" and were furthermore more likely to procrastinate and report less confidence in academic abilities. The test of serial mediations for H6 and H7 (e.g., social media use → grit → academic procrastination/academic self-efficacy → grade), however, did not find a significant complete mediated pathway although the coefficients were in the expected direction. In this sample, although social media use was associated with relevant academic outcomes such as tendency to procrastinate and perceived abilities to carry out academic tasks through grit, social media use was not a strong statistical predictor of students' academic performance such as GPA. Such finding suggests that more social media use is related to less desirable academic outcomes such as more academic procrastination and low academic self-efficacy through grit, yet these mechanisms do not necessarily translate to lower academic performance.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-27">General discussion</hd> <p>The amount of media use has been widely studied in conjunction with students' learning and academic outcomes. The purpose of the present study was to expand the literature by investigating how social media use (e.g., social networking sites, video-sharing social media, texting/messaging) is related to various academic-related variables, such as academic procrastination, academic self-efficacy, and GPA. Grit was proposed as the potential mediator between media use and academic outcomes. Two studies involving two different samples of undergraduate students in the U.S. were conducted to test the proposed research hypotheses.</p> <p>Contrary to the initial hypothesis (H1), social media use was not directly related to academic procrastination in the full models, although it was related indirectly through grit. This finding could be interpreted as the difference in the relation between problematic <emph>vs.</emph> non-problematic media use and academic procrastination. For the present study, participants were asked to report how often they used social media. Despite the common misconception, extensive use of media is not necessarily problematic or pathological (Billieux et al., [<reflink idref="bib4" id="ref57">4</reflink>]; Griffiths, [<reflink idref="bib12" id="ref58">12</reflink>]). In other words, although previous studies reported that problematic media use is related to more academic procrastination (Li et al., [<reflink idref="bib26" id="ref59">26</reflink>]; Serrano et al., [<reflink idref="bib39" id="ref60">39</reflink>]; Üztemur & Di̇nç, [<reflink idref="bib48" id="ref61">48</reflink>]), excessive (but not necessarily problematic) use of social media may not be directly related to academic procrastination, thereby explaining this finding.</p> <p>Similarly, social media use was not directly related to academic self-efficacy (H2). Such observation differs from previous research findings that more internet and Facebook uses were associated with lower academic self-efficacy (Hassell & Sukalich, [<reflink idref="bib15" id="ref62">15</reflink>]; McNallie et al., [<reflink idref="bib29" id="ref63">29</reflink>]; Valdez & Datu, [<reflink idref="bib49" id="ref64">49</reflink>]). The lack of direct association between social media use and academic self-efficacy suggests that students who spend more time on social media may not necessarily feel incompetent in successfully engaging in academic activities, possibly due to the increasing prevalence of social media use among undergraduate students. On average, the participants in the study used social media at least once a day. As social media use is normative among undergraduate students, social media use may no longer be significantly associated with observed differences in academic self-efficacy. Future studies could consider measuring more diverse media engagement patterns beyond social media use, which could reveal how different patterns of media and device engagement could predict different academic outcomes. For example, it would be interesting to consider whether using multiple media simultaneously or using background media activities may be related to different academic outcomes.</p> <p>The results from the present study confirmed that undergraduates who report more social media use are more likely to report lower trait grit (H3), replicating the previous research findings that more time spent on media is correlated with low grit (e.g., Cardoso-Leite et al., [<reflink idref="bib8" id="ref65">8</reflink>]; Ch'ng & Hoo, [<reflink idref="bib9" id="ref66">9</reflink>]; Siah et al., [<reflink idref="bib41" id="ref67">41</reflink>]). As expected, the relations between social media use and academic outcomes (i.e., academic self-efficacy, academic procrastination) were mediated by grit (H4, H5). The full mediation of grit on the relation between the two variables shows that students who use social media more frequently are less likely to commit themselves for long term goals and engage in more academic procrastination, but the associations between social media use and academic self-efficacy and procrastination were no longer significant while controlling for grit. Given that social media use is not a unique statistical predictor of academic outcomes when grit was considered, future studies could consider exploring the role of personality trait (e.g., grit) on the relation between social media use and academic-related cognitive and behavioral outcomes. For example, it is possible that the students with a high level of grit exhibit more positive academic beliefs and attitudes because they are conscious of their ability to direct necessary cognitive resources to achieve their academic goals.</p> <p>Finally, H6 and H7 proposed a serial mediation model of social media use → grit → academic procrastination/self-efficacy → GPA, respectively. These hypotheses were not supported by the present study, as the total indirect effects were not significant. When grit and academic outcomes (e.g., academic procrastination, academic self-efficacy) were taken into account, social media use was not significantly associated with GPA. Not all past studies have found grit to be a predictor of undergraduate students' grade (e.g., Gruenberg et al., [<reflink idref="bib13" id="ref68">13</reflink>]; Saunders-Scott et al., [<reflink idref="bib37" id="ref69">37</reflink>]), shedding light on the possibility that grit by itself may not be a strong predictor of academic achievement such as GPA. In addition, it should be noted that this study did not explicitly distinguish whether participants used social media for educational or entertainment purposes, which could explain the lack of observed relation between the two variables. Future study could consider differentiating social media use for learning <emph>vs.</emph> entertainment to examine how two different patterns of social media use may predict academic outcomes.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-28">Limitations and future directions</hd> <p>The current study has several limitations. First, the present study measured social media use using a 10-point Likert-type scale (1 = never, 10 = almost constantly). It is possible that there is a discrepancy between self-reported and actual amount of social media use, given that participants' responses could have been biased by social desirability or recall errors. More objective measures of social media use, such as logging hours spent on specific activities through app usage trackers, could improve the quality of the data on social media use frequency. Second, the participants in the study may not be representative of the university student population, limiting the generalizability of the study findings. Third, given the nature of the cross-sectional correlational study, no causal inferences can be drawn based on the study findings. That is, the results cannot be interpreted as a causal link between social media use and academic outcomes. Future studies could use longitudinal design to test the effect of media use on grit and academic outcomes.</p> <p>Similarly, although the study found grit was a significant mediator between social media use and academic procrastination and between social media use and academic self-efficacy, no inferences can be drawn on the underlying mechanism of these relations. For example, one could argue that more social media use is related to more academic procrastination via grit, because students who spend more time on social media are constantly distracted by media-related activities they are passionate about and thus are less capable of long-term goal planning. Another may argue that more social media use could reduce attentional resources and inhibitory control, which in turn influence grit and academic outcomes. These claims cannot be evaluated without accumulated research evidence from future studies; nonetheless, the present study serves as a first step to establish a relation among social media use, grit, and different academic outcomes.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-29">Conclusion</hd> <p>The present study found that the relation between social media use and academic performance is probably more complicated than some previous research suggests. Contrary to the commonly held displacement hypothesis that more time spent on social media takes away time spent on studying, this finding suggests that individual differences in academic behaviors and attitudes may explain the relation between social media use and academic outcomes. Furthermore, social media use may not necessarily be related to academic performance when grit and academic outcomes are considered. The findings lend some empirical support to the possibility that more frequent social media use (or the more ease of finding out information) could be negatively associated with academic outcomes.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-30">Funding</hd> <p>No funding was received for conducting this study.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-31">Data availability</hd> <p>The data that support the findings of this study are available from the second author upon reasonable request.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-32">Declarations</hd> <p></p> <hd id="AN0181643170-33">Conflict of interest</hd> <p>The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-34">Ethics statement</hd> <p>The research studies were approved by the Institutional Review Board of Linfield University (Study 1) and the Iowa State University (Study 2).</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-35">Informed consent statement</hd> <p>All participants provided a written informed consent before they participated in the study.</p> <hd id="AN0181643170-36">Publisher's Note</hd> <p>Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.</p> <ref id="AN0181643170-37"> <title> References </title> <blist> <bibl id="bib1" idref="ref25" type="bt">1</bibl> <bibtext> Abu-Snieneh HM, Aroury AMA, Alsharari AF, Al-Ghabeesh SH, Esaileh AA. 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Gentile and Jennifer Ruh Linder</p> <p>Reported by Author; Author; Author</p> <p></p> <p>El-Lim Kim El-Lim Kim Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Psychology, Franklin and Marshall College. Her research investigates outcomes associated with normative and problematic consumption of popular media and strategies to promote healthy media use.</p> <p>Douglas A. Gentile Douglas A. Gentile Ph.D., is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Iowa State University. He conducts research on the positive and negative effects of mass media on children, adolescents, and young adults, for which he received the Distinguished Lifetime Contributions to Media Psychology & Technology Award from Division 46 of the American Psychological Association.</p> <p>Jennifer Ruh Linder Jennifer Ruh Linder Ph.D., is a Professor of Psychology at Linfield University. Her research focuses on the effects of media across the lifespan on socioemotional development and well-being.</p> </aug> <nolink nlid="nl1" bibid="bib45" firstref="ref2"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl2" bibid="bib27" firstref="ref3"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl3" bibid="bib34" firstref="ref4"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl4" bibid="bib25" firstref="ref6"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl5" bibid="bib44" firstref="ref7"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl6" bibid="bib38" firstref="ref8"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl7" bibid="bib39" firstref="ref9"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl8" bibid="bib48" firstref="ref10"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl9" bibid="bib26" firstref="ref11"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl10" bibid="bib47" firstref="ref12"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl11" bibid="bib29" firstref="ref14"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl12" bibid="bib40" firstref="ref15"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl13" bibid="bib49" firstref="ref16"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl14" bibid="bib15" firstref="ref17"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl15" bibid="bib32" firstref="ref19"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl16" bibid="bib28" firstref="ref21"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl17" bibid="bib19" firstref="ref22"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl18" bibid="bib23" firstref="ref23"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl19" bibid="bib30" firstref="ref24"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl20" bibid="bib14" firstref="ref26"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl21" bibid="bib17" firstref="ref28"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl22" bibid="bib50" firstref="ref29"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl23" bibid="bib10" firstref="ref30"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl24" bibid="bib24" firstref="ref32"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl25" bibid="bib41" firstref="ref34"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl26" bibid="bib18" firstref="ref35"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl27" bibid="bib20" firstref="ref36"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl28" bibid="bib16" firstref="ref38"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl29" bibid="bib43" firstref="ref39"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl30" bibid="bib31" firstref="ref41"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl31" bibid="bib21" firstref="ref42"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl32" bibid="bib42" firstref="ref43"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl33" bibid="bib35" firstref="ref44"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl34" bibid="bib11" firstref="ref49"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl35" bibid="bib46" firstref="ref50"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl36" bibid="bib33" firstref="ref51"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl37" bibid="bib22" firstref="ref52"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl38" bibid="bib36" firstref="ref53"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl39" bibid="bib12" firstref="ref58"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl40" bibid="bib13" firstref="ref68"></nolink> <nolink nlid="nl41" bibid="bib37" firstref="ref69"></nolink>
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  Label: Title
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  Data: Social Media Use and Academic Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Grit
– Name: Language
  Label: Language
  Group: Lang
  Data: English
– Name: Author
  Label: Authors
  Group: Au
  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22El-Lim+Kim%22">El-Lim Kim</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1019-3550">0000-0002-1019-3550</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Douglas+A%2E+Gentile%22">Douglas A. Gentile</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Jennifer+Ruh+Linder%22">Jennifer Ruh Linder</searchLink>
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22Social+Psychology+of+Education%3A+An+International+Journal%22"><i>Social Psychology of Education: An International Journal</i></searchLink>. 2025 28(1).
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  Data: Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://link.springer.com/
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  Label: Publication Date
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  Data: 2025
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  Data: Journal Articles<br />Reports - Research
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  Label: Education Level
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Higher+Education%22">Higher Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="EL" term="%22Postsecondary+Education%22">Postsecondary Education</searchLink>
– Name: Subject
  Label: Descriptors
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Social+Media%22">Social Media</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Outcomes+of+Education%22">Outcomes of Education</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Integrity%22">Integrity</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Attention%22">Attention</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Self+Efficacy%22">Self Efficacy</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Undergraduate+Students%22">Undergraduate Students</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Characteristics%22">Student Characteristics</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Attitudes%22">Student Attitudes</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Student+Behavior%22">Student Behavior</searchLink>
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  Data: 10.1007/s11218-024-09973-5
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  Label: ISSN
  Group: ISSN
  Data: 1381-2890<br />1573-1928
– Name: Abstract
  Label: Abstract
  Group: Ab
  Data: The present study examined the associations among social media use and academic self-efficacy, academic procrastination, and academic achievement. Grit was proposed as the potential mediator between social media use and different academic variables. Two samples of undergraduate students recruited from two different universities in the U.S. (Study 1 N = 118 and Study 2 N = 385) completed a set of questionnaires. Results demonstrated that more social media use was not directly related to academic procrastination or academic self-efficacy; however, grit fully mediated the relation between social media use and academic procrastination/academic self-efficacy. Social media use was not significantly associated with academic achievement (measured by GPA) when academic self-efficacy, procrastination, and grit were taken into account. Results suggest that individual differences in academic beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors may explain the association between social media use and academic outcomes.
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  Data: 2024
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  Data: EJ1453145
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    Subjects:
      – SubjectFull: Social Media
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Outcomes of Education
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      – SubjectFull: Integrity
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Attention
        Type: general
      – SubjectFull: Self Efficacy
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      – SubjectFull: Undergraduate Students
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      – SubjectFull: Student Characteristics
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      – SubjectFull: Student Attitudes
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      – SubjectFull: Student Behavior
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      – TitleFull: Social Media Use and Academic Outcomes: The Mediating Role of Grit
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