ArticleFrontiers in psychology2025
Social media use and academic performance among college students: the chain mediating roles of social anxiety and fear of missing out and the moderating effect of teacher-student relationship.
Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed.
- Social media use motives and academic performance among Saudi medical students: the mediating role of perceived stress.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Development and validation of the Chinese university students' social mentality questionnaire: a four-component model study.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Coping with uncertainty in college: a TMIM-based study on incoming first-year university students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- The Relationship Between Fear of Missing Out, Academic Burnout, and Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Among Chinese College Students: An Empirical Analysis Based on Structural Equation Modeling.Psychology research and behavior management · 2026Article
- Are attitudes toward music therapy associated with lower social anxiety in university students? The roles of emotion regulation and psychological flexibility.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- A study on the impact of college students' employment-oriented social media use on employment anxiety: a dual mediation effect based on social capital and risk perception.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Fear of missing out (FoMO) in the digital age: implications for academic productivity and sleep quality among Saudi university students.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Social isolation and social media addiction: the serial mediation roles of social anxiety and FoMO among Chinese university students.Scientific reports · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
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Abstract
Objective: To explore the mechanisms by which social media use affects academic performance among college students, examining the chain mediation effects of social anxiety and fear of missing out (FoMO), as well as the moderating role of teacher-student relationships. Methods: Using stratified cluster sampling, questionnaire data were collected from 3,716 Chinese undergraduate students aged 18-24. The questionnaires measured social media usage frequency, social anxiety, FoMO, teacher-student relationships, and academic performance. Scale reliability and validity were first examined through confirmatory factor analysis, followed by structural equation modeling to assess chain mediation effects. The moderating effect of teacher-student relationships was tested using the PROCESS Model 14 framework. Results: Social media use had a significant negative direct effect on college students' academic performance. Social anxiety and FoMO served as significant mediators in this relationship. Teacher-student relationships significantly moderated the negative effect of FoMO on academic performance. Conclusion: High-frequency social media use among college students undermines academic performance through an emotional pathway whereby social anxiety leads to increased FoMO. Strong teacher-student relationships can function as an emotional regulatory mechanism, significantly reducing this adverse impact.
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