AI Insight
This study of 800 physical education undergraduates found that problematic social media use was associated with lower academic performance (GPA) through a chain of intermediate factors: inadequate sleep, reduced classroom engagement, and decreased academic persistence. The negative relationship between problematic social media use and sleep was amplified when students used social media at bedtime, creating a moderated mediation effect. The sequential pathway from problematic use through sleep quality, engagement, and persistence to academic achievement was statistically significant across multiple analytical models.
Why it matters
These findings suggest specific intervention points for improving student academic outcomes, particularly targeting bedtime social media habits and their impact on sleep quality. Understanding this pathway could help educators and counselors develop more effective strategies to support students struggling with both social media overuse and academic performance.
Understand the Science
IntroductionProblematic social media use (PSMU) has been associated with poorer academic functioning, but the pathways linking dysregulated use with university attainment remain incompletely specified. This cross-sectional study tested whether sleep adequacy, classroom engagement, and academic persistence statistically mediated the association between PSMU and cumulative GPA, and whether bedtime social media use moderated the first of these pathways.MethodsData from 800 Physical Education undergraduates at four university sites were analyzed using structural equation modelling and 5,000 bias-corrected bootstrap samples. Participants had a mean age of 20.55 years (SD = 1.18); 62.6% identified as men, 35.4% as women, and 2.0% selected another gender category or preferred not to answer. Measures included the nine-item Social Media Disorder Scale for PSMU, behavioral and emotional engagement subscales from the Engagement versus Disaffection with Learning framework, the Intent-to-Persist component of the College Persistence Questionnaire, a sleep-adequacy composite of school-night sleep duration and perceived sleep quality, and a bedtime social media use timing-frequency item.ResultsGreater problematic use was associated with poorer sleep adequacy, which was linked to weaker engagement, lower persistence, and lower GPA. The full sequential indirect effect was significant. Bedtime social media use strengthened the negative association between problematic use and sleep adequacy and yielded significant moderated mediation. Findings were robust across alternative sleep indicators and GPA sources.DiscussionSleep, engagement, and persistence therefore represent statistically supported intermediate associations within the proposed model, although longitudinal research is needed to establish temporal ordering and reciprocal effects.