Search

Background: COVID-19 and its associated social restrictive measures and lockdowns exacerbated the use of social media and other technological facilities for communication. This study, therefore, examined Ghanaian students' social media use and its relationship with fear of COVID-19, paying close attention to the moderating role of gender. Methods: A correlational online survey was used to collect data from a purposive sample of 209 University students in June and July 2020. Participants completed online measures on social media use and fear of COVID-19. Statistical analyses including independent-t test, Pearson correlation test and moderation analysis in PROCESS were conducted using SPSS v.24. Results: Findings revealed that the mean scores of social media use and fear of COVID-19 did not statistically differ by gender. However, social media use had a small and positive association with fear of COVID-19 (r = 0.18, p = 0.009). Furthermore, gender was a significant moderator of the relationship between social media use and fear of COVID-19. Specifically, the increased use of social media resulted in greater experiences of fearing COVID-19 for females (B = − 0.24, p = 0.034) compared to males. Conclusion: Although social media was useful in connecting with people and accessing pandemic-related information, our findings clearly suggest that overuse or over-engagement with social media was problematic, especially for females. Aside from developing interventions to reduce students' fears of COVID-19, appropriate usage of social media should be advocated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Procrastination on academic tasks is a common problem affecting learning and achievement of university students globally. In Western and developed countries, personality types have been implicated in academic procrastination, but such evidence has not been adduced within the Ghanaian context. This study was therefore conducted to explore the possible role of personality types on academic procrastination among undergraduate students. Two hundred (200) students (Mean age = 20.78 years; SD = 2.27) conveniently sampled completed the Academic Procrastination Scale and the Big Five Personality Inventory. Correlational analysis showed that academic procrastination was negatively associated with openness, conscientiousness, extraversion, and agreeableness but positively related to neuroticism. Further standard multiple regression analysis showed only two dimensions of the personality traits: Neuroticism and openness made significant prediction of academic procrastination. Neuroticism made the strongest unique predictor of academic procrastination (β = 0.23; t = 2.74; p <.01) followed by openness (β = – 0.20; t = −2.18; p <.05). The current study provides important information needed for the development of intervention programs that will help reduce academic procrastination among students, with specific emphasis on implicated personality traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]