Impact of Social Media on Behavioral Pattern and Secondary School Students’ Academic Performance in Bayelsa Central, Nigeria

Meshach Muruwei PhD; Victory Collins Owede PhD

doi:10.56201/rjmcit.vol.12.no3.2026.pg73.80

📄 Download Paper

Impact of Social Media on Behavioral Pattern and Secondary School Students’ Academic Performance in Bayelsa Central, Nigeria

Meshach Muruwei PhD, Victory Collins Owede PhD

Abstract

The study explores impact of social media on the behavioral patterns and secondary school students’ academic achievement in Bayelsa Central, Nigeria. Three objectives, research questions and two null hypotheses were developed. Descriptive survey research design was employed. The population consisted of all 3,462 SS 3 students from 88 public secondary schools in Bayelsa Central. Simple random technique is adopted to select a sample size of 360 students in senior secondary school three from 30 public secondary schools. Structured questionnaire titled Students’ Questionnaire on the Impact of social media on Behavioural Pattern and Academic Performance (SQISMBPAP) containing 18 items was used to collect data. Test-retest method was utilized to determine the instrument reliability using PPMCC deriving a reliability coefficient of 0.90. Mean and standard deviation were utilized in analysing the research questions, and the null hypothesis was tested with t-test at a 0.05 significant level. The findings showed that students had the opportunity to engage with several social media platforms, including Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, blogs, and YouTube. It was observed that their behaviour was greatly shaped by their interaction with these platforms, and their academic outcomes were likewise considerably impacted. The research recommends that parents and guardians should keep a close watch on their children’s use of mobile devices and online services to encourage proper use. In addition, school leaders and teachers should consistently inform students about the likely impact of using social media inappropriately.

Keywords

Social mediabehavioural patternacademic performancestudentssecondary school

References

Ferdig, R. (2007). Editorial: examining social software in teacher education. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 15(1), 5-10. Flad, K. (2010). The influence of social networking participation on student academic performance across gender lines. African Journal of Business Management, 5022-5031. Hettiarachchi, H. (2014). Impact of social networking on academic engagement and performance: A literature.: USCMT. Howard, P. N. & Parks, M. R. (2012). Social Media and Political Change: Capacity, Constraint, and Consequence. Journal of Communication, 62(2). DOI: 10.1111/j.1460- 2466.2012.01626.x Kaplan, A. & Haenlein, M. (2010). The fairyland of second life: About virtual social worlds and how to use them. Business Horizon, 52(26), 563-572. Keles, B., McCrae, N., & Grealish, A. (2020). A systematic review: the influence of social media on depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adolescents. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 79-93. Kolhar, M., Kazi, R. N. A., & Alameen, A. (2021). Effect of social media use on learning, social interactions, and sleep duration among university students. Saudi Journal of Biological Sciences, 28(4), 2216-2222. Lewis, B. K. (2010). Social media and strategy communication. Public Relations Journal, 4(3), 1- 10 Leong, L. Y., Hew, T. S., Ooi, K. B., Lee, V. H., & Hew, J. J. (2019). A hybrid SEM-neural network analysis of social media addiction. Expert Systems with Applications, 133, 296- 316. Naslund, J. A., Bondre, A., Torous, J., & Aschbrenner, K. A. (2020). Social media and mental health: benefits, risks, and opportunities for research and practice. Journal of technology in behavioral science, 4(12), 23-35 Ngonso, B. F., Ukhurebor, K. E., Egielewa, P. E. Ndunagu, J. N. & Yaah-Nyakko, N. K. (2024). Impact of social media on secondary schools’ youths within Edo North, Edo State, Nigeria: A psychological perspective. Journal of Education and e-Learning Research, 11(1,)181-192, Nneji, C. C., Urenyere, R., Ukhurebor, K. E., Ajibola, S., & Onaseso, O. O. (2022). The impacts of COVID-19-induced online lectures on the teaching and learning process: An inquiring study of junior secondary schools in Orlu, Nigeria. Frontiers in Public Health, 10,1054536. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.1054536. Retrieved 5th January, 2026. Ostic, D., Qalati, S. A., Barbosa, B., Shah, S. M. M., Galvan Vela, E., Herzallah, A. M., & Liu, F. (2021). Effects of social media use on psychological well-being: a mediated model. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 12(ID), 678766678766. Riva, G., Weilderhold, B., & Cipresso, P. (2016). Psychology of social media: From technology to identity. Retrieved from https://www.reserachgate.net/publication/30340829 on 5th February, 2026. Umar, T. I & Idris, M. (2017). Influence of social media on psychosocial behaviour and academic performance of secondary school students. Journal of Education and Entrepreneurship, 5(2), 36-46. Woods, H. C., & Scott, H. (2016). Sleepyteens: Social media use in adolescence is associated with poor sleep quality, anxiety, depression and low self-esteem. Journal of Adolescence, 51, 41-49

Impact of Social Media on Behavioral Pattern and Secondary School Students’ Academic Performance in Bayelsa Central, Nigeria

Abstract

Keywords

References

More Articles from RESEARCH JOURNAL OF MASS COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY