Abstract
BackgroundSmartphone addiction, as with other behavioral addictions, is associated with social, physical, and mental health issues. In this article, we investigated the prevalence of smartphone addiction among postgraduate students and evaluated its correlation with social demographics, depression, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and nicotine dependence.ObjectivesThe objective of this study was to investigate the prevalence of smartphone addiction among Middle Eastern postgraduate students, determine the factors associated with smartphone addiction, and estimate the incidence rate of major depressive disorder (MDD), ADHD, insomnia, and nicotine addiction among postgraduate students with smartphone addiction.MethodsAs part of a cross-sectional online survey, participants were given a self-questionnaire divided into six sections: Socio-demographics, Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ9) for Depression, Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), the Fagerström Test for Cigarette Dependence Questionnaire (FTCd), and the adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1).ResultsOf the 506 patients, 51.0% of the participants demonstrated smartphone addiction. A significant association was also observed between extensive smartphone use and MDD (P = 0.001). Of the smokers in this study, 41.5% were addicted to smartphones (P = 0.039). Smartphone addicts had approximately two times the chance of having insomnia (OR = 2.113) (P = 0.013). In addition, they showcased more ADHD symptoms (OR = 2.712) (P < 0.001).ConclusionsWe found a positive association among insomnia, depression, adult ADHD, and smartphone addiction, which confirms the findings reported in the previous studies. Therefore, we encourage the scientific community to further study the impacts of smartphone addiction on the mental health of postgraduate students.
Highlights
Smartphone addiction, as with other behavioral addictions, is associated with social, physical, and mental health issues
We found a positive association among insomnia, depression, adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and smartphone addiction, which confirms the findings reported in the previous studies
We encourage the scientific community to further study the impacts of smartphone addiction on the mental health of postgraduate students
Summary
Smartphone addiction, as with other behavioral addictions, is associated with social, physical, and mental health issues. Smartphones are handheld mobile devices with many convenient features and software applications (email, social media, web browser, etc.), which are operated via an Internet connection. Smartphones provide entertainment, social media, health monitoring, productivity, utility functions (e.g., day planners), text talk, photo editing, and many more features in one handheld device. With this wide array of functionalities built into smartphones, researchers have observed an increasing number of smartphone users. In 2019, Google and Apple collectively announced that 3.4 billion people use Apple or Google smartphones. These numbers do not include people who are not using Apple or Google products
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