Can Social Media be Used to Control Academic Stress? An Application of the Theory of Planned Behavior

Abstract

The present study was conducted aiming at investigating the effect of social media-based intervention according to the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) to control the academic stress of the students. This study comes in two descriptive and quasi-experimental sections in the Academic Year 2018-2019. In order to determine the effect of planned behavioral constructs on stress levels, the descriptive study was conducted on 320 students. The quasiexperimental study was organized to determine the effect of a social media-based educational intervention on the TPB on 180 students. Data collection was conducted through questionnaires of personal information, Gadzella's Student-Life Stress Inventory, and researcher-made questionnaire based on the TPB, with a confirmed validity and reliability. TPB predicted 15.1% of the variance of academic stress among students and the perceived behavioral control construct had the most significant effect (p < 0.001). The mean score of knowledge and subject norms in the experimental group was significantly increased during the study (p < 0.05). The social media intervention could reduce the students' academic stress to some extent and lead to the student's subject norms development.