An examination of the relationships among United States college students' media use habits, need for cognition, and grade point average

2013

The current study uses survey methods to understand how US college students' use of various types of social media, such as social networking websites and text messaging on smart phones, as well as consumption of traditional media, such as watching television and reading books for pleasure, is (or is not) related to intellectual cognitive processing and performance in school. The current results, which were based on a number of multiple regression analyses, revealed college students’ use of traditional media appears to be a significant and viable predictor of both college students’ grade point averages (GPAs) and their levels of need for cognition (NFC). On the other hand, college students’ …