Smartphone Addiction and Sleep Quality among Medical Students

Abstract

The availability of smartphones and their multi-functionality make them indispensable devices in day-to-day life, especially among students. When smartphone use goes beyond necessity and turns into addiction, the consequences can affect various aspects of life such as mental health, sleep quality, and academic performance. The focus of this research was assessing the presence of smartphone addiction and its association with sleep quality among medical students of the University of Novi Sad. In this cross-sectional study, using the Smartphone Addiction Assessment Scale (SAS-SV) and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), an online survey method, we included 119 medical students, mean age 21.5 (SD±2.8), from of which 75.6% were female students. The obtained results indicate the absence of smartphone addiction (SAS-SV=25.6; SD ±9.1) and the presence of poorer sleep quality (PSQI=5.9; SD±3.3). The prevalence of smartphone addiction was 21%, while the prevalence of poor sleep quality was around 46%. The established moderate positive, statistically significant, correlation between the scores of the questionnaire indicates that increasing the presence of smartphone addiction can worsen the sleep quality in medical students. The need for further research on this subject, on a wider, more representative sample, was recognized. As the complexity of the study program dictates the characteristic lifestyle of students, timely education and raising awareness of the potential risks of behavioral addictions is considered desirable, even necessary.