Cell phones and grades: examining mediation by perceived control and anxiety
- PDF / 731,757 Bytes
- 25 Pages / 439.37 x 666.142 pts Page_size
- 99 Downloads / 197 Views
Cell phones and grades: examining mediation by perceived control and anxiety Masha V. Krylova1 · Robert P. Dryden1 · Raymond P. Perry1 · Judith G. Chipperfield1 · Jeremy M. Hamm2 · Rodney A. Clifton1 · Steve Hladkyj1 · Patti C. Parker3 Received: 12 December 2019 / Accepted: 20 July 2020 © Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract Considerable evidence shows that cell phone use (CPU) is detrimental to students’ academic achievement. However, researchers have yet to consider whether or not perceived academic control (PAC) and anxiety can mediate this effect. In this twosemester study, we examined the role of PAC and learning-related anxiety in affecting the relationship between students’ daily CPU and their final grades in a university course. The study used a series of multiple regressions supplemented by the Hayes’ mediation procedures with a sample of first-year undergraduate students (N = 931) in a research-1 university. The results showed that PAC partially reduced the negative effects of CPU on the grades of the female students while the effects of CPU and PAC were virtually independent for the male students. Anxiety, in turn, did not mediate between CPU and the students’ academic performance for either females or males. Keywords Cell phone use · Perceived academic control · Anxiety · Academic achievement · Mediation
1 Introduction Cell phones are ubiquitous in university halls and classrooms. One commonly sees hundreds of students looking down at their cell phones irrespective of where they are going or who they are with. The relative novelty of this trend accounts for the burgeoning literature on the relationship between the use of cell phones and students’ * Masha V. Krylova [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
2
North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA
3
University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
M. V. Krylova et al.
educational outcomes. This paper examines the effects of cell phone use on final course grades of first-year students in a Canadian research-centered university. Although research is emerging to suggest cell phone use can be detrimental to the academic achievement of university students (e.g., Kates et al. 2018), a relatively limited number of studies have examined the causes and effects of cell phone use on grades and other important educational outcomes (e.g., Seo et al. 2016). As a result, a more fine-grained analysis is needed to understand the relevant processes and how they may differ for male and female students. A comprehensive understanding of the adverse impact of mobile devices in an academic setting is suggested, in part, by prior research regarding the predictors of academic performance, particularly the literature that highlights the role of psychological variables measuring cognitive and affective phenomena, such as perceived control and anxiety (e.g., Parker et al. 2017; Perry 2003; Perry et al. 2005a; Pekrun and Stephens 2015). To our knowledge, very few, if any, analyses ha
Data Loading...
