1) The study examined the relationships between SNS usage, academic procrastination, and academic performance among Chinese college students. 2) The results showed that Weibo usage was positively correlated with academic procrastination, while Renren usage was negatively correlated. 3) Academic procrastination was found to be negatively correlated with emotions and attitudes towards study but was not correlated with academic performance. 4) The study suggests academic procrastination may mediate the relationship between SNS usage and emotions/attitudes towards study.

1. The relationship between SNS usage and academic performance:
the mediating role of procrastination
Chris Chen, Catherine Zhang, Charlene Ye, Carol Zhu, Xiaofan Han

2. Agenda
Introduction
Literature Review
Methods
Results
Conclusion & Discussion
Limitations & Future Study
!2

3. Introduction

4. Prevalence of SNS
among Mainland Chinese students
❖ Sina Weibo
Among Chinese netizens whose age is at 19 or above, the penetration
rate of Weibo is 88.8% (Annual Report of Weibo, 2012), and 30 million are
college students (Weibo Development Report, 2013).
❖ Renren
According to Alexa.com, the age of Renren users is between 18 and 24 ,
and most of them have college educational background.
!4

5. Background
❖ Academic procrastination has become a spotlight.
❖ Previous studies found that academic procrastination would cause
anxiety, irritation, regret, despair, or self-blame (Burka & Yuen, 1983;
Pychyl et al., 2000a; Rothblum, Solomon & Murakami, 1986).
❖ Also, procrastination is found to be negatively associated with academic
performance (Wesley, 1994; Beck, Koons & Milgram, 2000).
!5

6. Purpose of study
❖ To clarify the relationship between SNS usage and academic
procrastination;
❖ To explore the mediating role of procrastination on the relationship
between SNS usage and academic performances.
!6

7. Literature Review

8. Definition of SNS
❖ Boyd & Ellison (2007) defined social network sites as web-based
services that allow individuals to:
(1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system;
(2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection;
(3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.
❖ Other scholars debate the word "networking" is more appropriate
(Staples.2009)
❖ This study will adopt the terminology "networking" for SNS.
!8

9. Definition of Academic Performances
❖ Academic performances can be predictable by
(1) Tests of examining academic ability, e.g. the American College Test (ACT)
(2) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT)
(3) A widely used indicator—Grade Point Average (GPA)
!9

10. Definition of
Emotions and Attitudes to Study
❖ Grade alone can not fully evaluate a student' learning ability.
❖ Conceptualization: A student 's psychological reflection and
evaluation towards his (or her) study.
!10

11. Literatures on SNS usage and
Academic-related Performances
!
❖ There is no robust negative relationship between Facebook use and
grades (Pasek, More & Hargittai, 2009).
❖ Facebook use, often carried out simultaneously with other study activities,
reported having lower GPAs and spend fewer hours per week studying
than nonusers (Kirschner & Karpinski, 2010).
❖ Certain ways of using Facebook could leads to various psychosocial
outcomes in students academic engagement, and moreover Facebook
use is not detrimental to academic outcomes (Junco, 2012).
!11

12. Definition of Procrastination
❖ Procrastination is the act of needlessly delaying tasks to the point
of experiencing subjective discomfort (Solomon & Rothblum, 1984).
❖ Lack or absence of self-regulated performance and the irrational
behavioral tendency to postpone what is necessary to reach a goal or
should be completed (Ellis & Knaus, 1977; Lay, 1986; Tuckman, 1991;
Knaus, 2000).
!12

13. Definition of Academic Procrastination
❖ Academic Procrastination is the intentional delay in the
beginning or completion of important and timely academic activities
(Schouwenburg, 2004; Ziesat, Rosenthal & White, 1978).
!13

14. Literatures on Procrastination and
Academic-related Performance
❖ Procrastination results in detrimental academic performance, including
poor grades and course withdrawal (Semb, Glick & Spencer, 1979).
❖ Procrastination leads to low academic achievement (Beswick,
Rothblum & Mann, 1988).
❖ University students who rated high on procrastination received low
grades (Tice and Baumeister, 1997).
!14

15. Literatures on SNS Usage and
Academic Procrastination
❖ A study shows that a majority of students believe online activities
distract them from studying, lead to procrastination, and displace time
that would have otherwise been spent on academics (Shannon J &
O'Brien, 2012).
❖ Also, there is a research on Facebook-related academic procrastination
(Holbova, 2010).
!15

16. Framework
!16
Academic
Performances
Academic
Procrastination
SNS Usage
Emotions and
Attitudes to study
+
_
_
?
?

17. Hypotheses and Research Question
Hypothesis 1: SNS usage will be positively related to
academic procrastination.
Hypothesis 2: Academic procrastination will be negatively
related to academic performances.
Hypothesis 3: Academic procrastination will be negatively
related to emotions and attitudes towards study.
RQ: What is the relationship between SNS usage and
academic-related performances?
!17

18. Methods

19. Sampling
❖ Online survey: Google Form
❖ N=245 (out of 251), Female:160; Male:85
!19
65.3 % 34.7 %

20. Sampling
❖ Online survey: Google Form
❖ N=245 (out of 251), Female:160; Male:85
❖ Subject: college students from mainland of China
❖ Probability sampling: Available sampling method
Non-probability sampling: Snowball sampling strategy
!20

21. Measurement
❖ SNS Usage (Weibo, Renren and Wechat)
6-point Scale (1=Less than 10 minutes, 6=More than 3 hours)
Question: How much time spend on SNS per day?
!
❖ Bruce W. Tuckman's Procrastination Scale (revised version)
4-point Likert Scale (1=That's not me for sure, 4=That's me for sure)
Questions: I needlessly delay finishing assignments, even when they are important;
I am an incurable time waster, etc.
!21

22. Measurement
❖ Academic Performance
Self-reported question
Question: What is your average score in last semester evaluated by Percentage
System？
!
❖ Emotions and Attitudes toward study
4-point Likert scale (1=Not at all true, 4=Exactly true )
Questions: I feel I am a productive student; I work very hard in my study, etc.
!22

23. Results

24. Findings—reliability
!24
❖ Procrastination scale
Mean Std.Deviation
Cronbach's
Alpha
N of items
2.32 0.48 0.89 16

25. Findings—reliability
❖ Emotions and attitudes to study scale
!25
Mean Std.Deviation
Cronbach's
Alpha
N of items
2.5 0.44 0.77 8

26. Findings—descriptive
!26
Mean Std. deviation
Renren Use Per Day
(N= 231)
1.44 0.98
Weibo Use Per Day
(N=238)
2.28 1.51
Wechat Use Per Day
(N=247)
3.19 1.77
Emotions & Attitudes to
study (N=232)
2.50 0.44
Academic Performance
(N=214)
82.33 14.4

27. !27
Academic
Procrastination
Renren Use Per day
(N=231)
Pearson correlation!
Sig.(2-tailed)
-.18*!
.01
Weibo Use Per Day
(N=238)
Pearson correlation!
Sig.(2-tailed)
.12#!
.08
We chat Use Per day
(N=247)
Pearson correlation!
Sig.(2-tailed)
.01!
.94
***p<.001; **p<.01; *p<.05
IV: SNS Usage
DV: Academic Procrastination
Hypothesis 1 is supported.
Unexpectedly, Renren usage is weakly negatively associated with academic
procrastination. In terms of Renren usage, hypothesis 1 is rejected.
Findings—correlation

28. Findings—correlation
!28
IV: Academic Procrastination
DV: Academic performances &
Emotions and Attitudes to study
Academic
Performances
Emotions and
Attitudes to Study
Academic
Procrastination
(N=213)
Pearson correlation!
Sig.(2-tailed)
.09!
.23
-.53**!
.000
***p<.001; **p<.01; *p<.05
Hypothesis 2 is rejected.
Hypothesis 3 is supported.

29. Findings—correlation
!29
IV: SNS Usage
DV: Academic Performances &
Emotions and Attitudes to Study
Academic
Performances
Emotions and
Attitudes to Study
Renren Use Per day
(N=214)
Pearson correlation!
Sig.(2-tailed)
.10!
.16
.05!
.53
Weibo Use Per Day
(N=219)
Pearson correlation!
Sig.(2-tailed)
-.05!
.45
.08!
.27
We chat Use Per
day (N=228)
Pearson correlation!
Sig.(2-tailed)
.09!
.19
.01!
.87
***p<.001; **p<.01; *p<.05
RQ: there is no direct relationship between SNS usage and academic performances & emotions
and attitudes to study.

30. Conclusion
Discussion
&

31. Weibo Usage &
Academic Procrastination
❖ Weibo Usage is marginally positively related to academic
procrastination (r=.12, p=.08).
❖ Reasons:
Information source + Entertainment + Celebrity =
More time spent on Weibo
!31

32. Renren Usage &
Academic Procrastination
❖ Unexpectedly, Renren usage is weakly negatively linked
to academic procrastination (r=-.18, p<.05).
❖ Reasons:
Renren is a platform through which to communicate with
friends and classmates. Their behaviors would generate
pressures on the user, which pushing he (or she) to do
something.
!32

33. Academic Procrastination &
Academic Performances
❖ There is no significant relationship between academic
procrastination and academic performances (r=-.09, p=.23).
❖ Reasons:
(1) Final test in mainland of China put more emphasis on
memory;
(2) Grades reflect more on test outcome, rather than overall
quality of a student.
!33

34. Academic Procrastination &
Emotions and Attitudes to study
❖ There is a moderately negative relationship between
academic procrastination and emotions and attitudes to
study (r=-.53, p<.01).
❖ This study confirmed the logic of previous researches.
!34

35. The mediating role of procrastination
❖ Procrastination can mediate the relationship between SNS
Usage and emotions and attitudes to study.
!35

36. Path analysis
!36
Academic
Performances
Academic
Procrastination
Renren Usage
Emotions and
Attitudes to study
-.18*
-.53**
-.09
.10
.05 .19**

37. !37
Academic
Performances
Academic
Procrastination
Weibo Usage
Emotions and
Attitudes to study
.12#
-.53**
-.05
.08 .19**
-.09
Path analysis

38. The mediating role of procrastination
❖ Implication
Social psychologists and educational workers will find understanding
motivations of SNS usage are useful.
When discussing what influences academic outcome, it matters more
what students use SNSs for and the impact on the degree of
procrastination , rather than the time spent on SNS.
!38

39. Limitations
Future Study
&

40. Limitations on
Questionnaire Design
❖ Answer categories are not exclusive and comprehensive.
❖ As data showed, measuring SNS usage by "how long"
question is not ideal.
❖ Overlooking those first-year students who do not have
average score in college.
!40

41. Limitations on Sampling
❖ Representativeness: sample size is too small to generalize.
❖ The proportion of gender is not balanced (160 females and
85 males).
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42. Future Study
!42
Academic
Performances
Academic
Procrastination
Functions
of SNS
Emotions and
Attitudes to study

43. Thank you for your attention