This study aimed to examine motivations to use social media in a sample of university students. Grounded in the theory of Uses and Gratifications, the current research sough to delineate user motivations with exploratory factor analysis. To reach the study goals the researcher used cross-sectional survey methodology in which a questionnaire was distributed to 1327 undergraduate students with their consent. The analysis of the data revealed that almost all respondents used social media. Based on factor analysis results, their motivations for doing so are entertainment, information seeking, personal utility and convenience. These factors were positively related to the user's experience, time spent, and level of satisfaction with social media. Future studies should consider the cultural values of users and examine other possible motivations, taking into account their context.

This study investigated the effect of social media usage, engagement, and addiction on academic performance. First, the results show that the amount of time one spends using social media affects academic performance in a negative way. The amount of time one spends using social media is negatively correlated with their academic performance. Second, the study examined the effect of social media engagement on academic performance. Results show the SMEQ had no significant impact on academic performance. This outcome indicates that, unlike social media usage, being engaged alone does not affect academic performance. Finally, the study looked at social media addiction and its effect on academic performance. Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS) was used for this purpose. Factor analysis was again used to determine the dimensions of SMAS. The analysis yielded three factors. Two of these factors were negative predictors of academic performance. This is not surprising since addiction implies heavy usage that previously showed the same negative effect on academic performance.

Abstract:This study aimed to examine social media addiction in a sample of university students. Based on the Internet addiction scale developed by Young (1996) the researcher used cross-sectional survey methodology in which a questionnaire was distributed to 1327 undergraduate students with their consent. Factor analysis of the self-report data showed that social media addiction has three independent dimensions. These dimensions were positively related to the users experience with social media; time spent using social media and satisfaction with them. In addition, social media addiction was a negative predictor of academic performance as measured by a student's GPA. Future studies should consider the cultural values of users and examine the context of social media usage.

This study investigated the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the SMAS. SMAS is a variant of IAT customized to measure addiction to social media instead of the Internet as a whole. Using a self-report instrument on a cross-sectional sample of undergraduate students, the results revealed the following. First, the exploratory factor analysis showed that a three-factor model fits the data well. Second, concurrent validity analysis showed the SMAS to be a valid measure of social media addiction. However, further studies and data should verify the hypothesized model. Finally, this study showed that the Arabic version of the SMAS is a valid and reliable instrument for use in measuring social media addiction in the Arab world.

<p>This study examines the dimensions of religiosity based on a sample of undergraduate students in a large state university in Kuwait. It aims to develop and test a multi-dimensional scale to measure religiosity in a Muslim sample. More specifically, the current research tests the properties of a newly developed religiosity scale designed for a Muslim sample consisting of two sub-scales, a spiritual and a behavioral one. The self-report data support the two dimensions of religiosity but, while the two dimensions are related, their statistical distributions were different indicating a possible “desirability bias” effect. Future studies should guard against this possibility by using complex survey techniques such as randomized responses and unmatched count. </p>