THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FREQUENCY OF FACEBOOK USE, PARTICIPATION IN FACEBOOK ACTIVITIES, AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Adults are interested in the effects of social media on adolescents, often with a focus on a popular social media website such as Facebook. Two previous studies have examined the relationship between Facebook use and student engagement, a construct related to positive college outcomes. However, these studies were limited by their evaluation of Facebook usage and how they measured engagement. This paper fills a gap in the literature by using a large sample (N = 2,368) of college students to examine the relationship between frequency of Facebook use, participation in Facebook activities, and student engagement. Student engagement was measured in three ways: a 19-item scale based on the National Survey of Student Engagement, time spent preparing for class, and time spent in co-curricular activities. Results indicate that Facebook use was significantly negatively predictive of engagement scale score and positively predictive of time spent in co-curricular activities. Additionally, some Facebook activities were positively predictive of the dependent variables, while others were negatively predictive.

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FREQUENCY OF FACEBOOK USE, PARTICIPATION IN FACEBOOK ACTIVITIES, AND STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

IN-CLASS MULTITASKING AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

STUDENT CLASS STANDING, FACEBOOK USE, AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

NO A 4 U: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MULTITASKING AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

STUDENT CLASS STANDING, FACEBOOK USE, AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Although some research has shown a negative relation between Facebook use and academic performance, more recent research suggests that this relation is likely mitigated by multitasking. Time spent on Facebook was significantly negatively predictive of GPA for freshmen but not for other students. Multitasking with Facebook was significantly negatively predictive of GPA for freshmen, sophomores, and juniors but not for seniors. The results are discussed in relation to freshmen transition tasks and ideas for future research are provided.

Too much face and not enough books: The relationship between multiple indices of Facebook use and academic performance

Time spent on Facebook was strongly and significantly negatively related to overall GPA, while only weakly related to time spent preparing for class. Furthermore, using Facebook for collecting and sharing information was positively predictive of the outcome variables while using Facebook for socializing was negatively predictive.