Mobile addiction and its relationship with quality of life in medical students

Abstract

BackgroundQuality of life is one of the most important health-related outcomes that can be affected by mobile phone addiction. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of mobile phone addiction and its relationship with quality of life in students of Birjand University of Medical Sciences (BUMS). MethodsThis cross-sectional study was conducted on 360 students in BUMS in 2018. The sample was randomly selected from each faculty using proportional stratified sampling. To collect data, a questionnaire containing the demographic variables, the PMPAS questionnaire for mobile addiction and SF-12 for quality of life were used. Data were analyzed by independent t-test and Pearson correlation coefficient in SPSS (V.18). ResultsThe mean age of the students was 25.1 ± 6.3 years that 75.5% were female. In terms of marital status, 60.6% were single. Nearly 75% of students were with moderate or severe mobile phone addiction. The score of mobile phone addiction was higher in single and younger students (p < 0.001). The mean score of quality of life for the students in two aspects of the physical and mental component were 50.81 and 42.86 respectively. Based on the results, there was a significant inverse relationship between scores of mental function and mobile phone addiction (r = −0.35, p < 0.001), this relation was not significant for physical function (r = −0.60, p = 0.25). ConclusionsAccording to the results, the prevalence of mobile phone addiction among students was high and mobile phone addiction has a negative effect on the quality of life of students, which has a negative effect on psychological performance.