RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BENIN

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the relationship between the use of social media on academic performance of undergraduate student of the University of Benin, Edo State. To address the problem of the study, three research questions were raised and formulated into hypotheses, and were tested at 0.05 level of significance.

The study adopted the survey research design using the correlational type. The target population of the study consisted of 878 undergraduate student of the University of Benin, Edo State. The sample size of the study consisted of 250 undergraduate students that were selected using multi-stage sampling techniques.The instrument that was used to collect data for this study was a questionnaire designed by the researcher and titled; Social Media Exposure, Use and Addictiveness Questionnaire (SMEUAQ). The face and content validities of the instrument were ascertained by three experts. Cronbach Alpha statistics was used to obtain a reliability coefficient of 0.84. The data collected were analyzed using inferential statistics of Pearson Product Moment Correlation and Partial Correlation Statistics at 0.05 level of significance.

The findings of the study showed that there is significance relationship between the use of social media and academic performance among undergraduate student of the University of Benin, Edo State and that the relationship between the use of social media on academic performance of undergraduate students does not significantly differ by sex and age. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that, Counsellors at the university students’ counselling center should educate students on the influence of social media on their academic performance.