Relating Intensive And Compulsive Facebook Use With Life Satisfaction And Academic Performance Amongst First Year University Of Namibia Students

ABSTRACT

As a new field of study, the impact of Facebook use is not well understood. Consequently, this descriptive quantitative cross-sectional study aims to address identified gaps by collecting Namibian specific data on the intensive Facebook use (IFU) and compulsive Facebook use (CFU) of first year students from the University of Namibia and describing how IFU and CFU relate to each other and to academic performance, life satisfaction and user characteristics. Using random sampling from a list of Computer Literacy classes, data were collected from 559 students by means of a self-report questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, simple and multiple hierarchical linear regression analysis were conducted. The sample was comprised of 63.4% females and 36.6% male aged on average 22.6 years (ranging from 18 to 52). The user profiles revealed Facebook use in Namibia is similar to Facebook use globally, except that Namibians have relatively more Facebook friends. The major findings include the positive correlation between IFU and CFU (r = .454, p < 0.01) with IFU explaining 20.6% of the variance in the CFU scores. Hence, the more integrated Facebook is in the lives of its users, the more likely they are to also use Facebook compulsively. Neither IFU nor CFU relate to grade average or life satisfaction, but rather appear to predict academic impairment due to Facebook use, jointly accounting for 32.3% of the variance. However, controlling for covariance between IFU and CFU reveals that academic impairment due to Facebook use (missing class, poor sleep and social withdrawal) is more likely to follow compulsive Facebook use, which, in turn, negatively affects their grade average (R2 = 0.03, p < 0.01) and satisfaction with life (R2 = 0.015, p < .001). This study will hopefully raise awareness of the impact of excessive Facebook use and enable Namibia to participate in the global debate about Facebook use and its consequences.