Association of problematic mobile phone use with psychological distress and self-esteem among college students in South India: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Mobile phones have penetrated into the lives of common man to the extent of becoming one of the basic necessities for surviving in this modern world. Apart from the health effects of radiation from handsets, concerns have been raised over the behavioural effect of using mobile phones, especially among younger generation. Problematic mobile phones use (PMU) may be considered an addiction-like behaviour related to an individual’s mobile phone use. Methods: A study was conducted among 1108 college students in the age group of 18-25 years to find the prevalence of PMU using a uni-dimensional problematic mobile phone use scale (PMUS) developed by the authors. The prevalence of PMU among the college students was 26.8% and it was related with psychological distress and other predictor variables using statistical analysis. Results: Psychological distress was present among 5.8% and lower self-esteem using was present among 13.2% of the participants. The mean score of GHQ among problematic mobile phone users was 10.14 (±4.87) whereas the score among Normal users was 7.85 (±3.42). A significant cross-sectional association was found in between problematic mobile phone use and psychological distress, lower self-esteem, gender, smartphone use, multiple chatting applications, committed relationship status, relationship with mother and frequency of mobile phone use. Conclusions: Health education is required for increasing awareness about PMU among the college students. Further research should be undertaken and factors related to PMU may be considered for intervention.