Exploring and predicting Canadian university students’ trait anxiety and nomophobia during COVID-19

Abstract

ABSTRACT For university students, shifts to online models of learning, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, have emphasized the importance of digital devices, such as smartphones, for university learning. Excessive smartphone use has been linked to symptoms of smartphone-related anxiety, or Nomophobia. The purpose of this study was to explore the levels of trait anxiety, nomophobia, and screen time of Canadian university students during the Winter 2021 semester (i.e. while COVID-19 was a prominent concern, and university courses across Canada were primarily online). An online survey was completed by 1,221 Canadian university students. Counter to what we hypothesized, both trait anxiety scores (STAI-T = 40.23 ± 11.04) and nomophobia sum scores (NMP-Q = 83.30 ± 23.17) were comparable to normative data pre-COVID-19 pandemic. Nomophobia, perceived screen time, non-binary gender, and weekday phone time significantly predicted greater trait anxiety (R2 = 0.178), while using social media apps less, using an iPhone or Android, being male, weekday laptop time, weekday tablet time, and enrollment at the host institution predicted lower nomophobia (R2 = 0.248). Overall, our findings suggest a relative stability in trait anxiety and nomophobia among Canadian university students during COVID-19, when compared with pre-pandemic work. Future work should seek to replicate these variables through longitudinal designs.