Abstract
As the number of users of smartphones, LINE, and other applications continues to rise, there is an increasing knowledgeable need for the relationship between these applications and academic performance. In this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted on first-year students attending a private junior high school in Tokyo (n = 175) to clarify the relationship between LINE and academic performance. The results showed that there were significant negative correlations at the 5% level between academic performance and items such as the tendency to worry about received messages, the frequency of checking messages, and the number of LINE friends. However, no significant correlation was found between academic performance and actual time spent using LINE. A multiple regression analysis was conducted which factors in the various items of LINE. The standardized regression coefficients for the independent variables were higher for the number of LINE friends (β = -0.21, p < .05) and received message-feeling (β = -0.19, p < .05), and all were significant. A t-test was conducted to determine whether there was a difference in academic performance depending on whether the smartphone was stored in a different location or not stored when studying at home, and a significant difference was found between the stored and unstored groups at the 5% level.
