Nomophobia Questionnaire Research Articles

BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS OF ADOLESCENT’S STUDENTS ADDICTED TO FACEBOOK AND ITS IMPACT ON PERFORMANCE AND MENTAL HEALTH

The massive use of social media, especially Facebook, has an impact on student’s neurocognitive performance and mental health in Morocco. The purpose of this study is to show the impact of the Facebook addiction, especially with Smartphone on school performance and mental health. On the methodological part a questionnaire was used beside the Bergan Facebook Addiction Scale Test (BFAS) which has been validated in the Arab version with Cronbach's Alpha (α = 0.788), and the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) Arabic version, with a general anxiety test, which are distributed to 541 participants in the middle and the high schools of Kenitra city 55.1% of girls and 44.9% of boys have a mean age of 15.238 years, SD = ± 0.06. The results obtained confirmed by a negative correlation in relationship with the first semester general score and Facebook addiction by the BFAS test, and a significant relationship between the increase in Facebook addiction in parallel with the state of anxiety (P <.001) and Nomophobia (P <.000). We have been able to pick up the negative impact of the social media exposure on the performance and mental health of adolescent students. in order to have a solution from this plague in the future.

Relationship between Problematic Internet Use And Nomophobia Levels among The Faculty Youth

particularly among adolescents. Using these electronic devices provide multiple personal benefits. However, this can lead people to become addicted to Smartphone and would suffer from Problematic Internet Use(PIU) and subsequently NOMOPHOBIA which is the (no mobile phobia) i.e., the fear of being out of contact with the mobile phone. Since the younger generation are the most consumers of Smartphone and the most frequently users of internet, hence many bio-psychosocial problems started to appear. There for, this study was conducted to explore the NOMOPPHOBIA levels among youth students at the Faculty of Nursing - CairoUniversity and its interrelatedness to Problematic Internet Use. Exploratory-correlation research design was conducted in this study. Stratified systematic random sample of 95 undergraduate students at all four grades of the Faculty of Nursing- Cairo University was selected for this study.. Three instruments were used in the current study including socio-demographic characteristics and internet usage profile sheet, the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ), and the NOMOPHOBIA Questionnaire. Results revealed that 57.95% of the studied sample had significant Problematic Internet Use, and NOMOPHOBIA was severely prevalent among 47.19% and moderately prevalent among 46.07 %. Highly significant positive relation between Problematic Internet Use and NOMOPHOBIA at p-value < 0.0001 was found in this sample. In conclusion sampled youth students at the Faculty of Nursing, CairoUniversity suffered high prevalence of both NOMOPHOBIA and Problematic Internet Use which showed highly positive significant correlation. Health education strategies are recommended to target these youth to minimize the harmful effect of Smartphone misuse.

Nomophobia: A Mixed-Methods Study on Prevalence, Associated Factors, and Perception among College Students in Puducherry, India.

Background:As more people are utilizing smartphones, nomophobia is also on the rise. Several Indian studies have revealed nomophobia among young adults. The severity of nomophobia and related behaviors is underrated and often go unnoticed in India.Methods:The sociodemographic characteristics, smartphone usage pattern, and perceived ill-health related to smartphone usage of the participants were obtained using a semistructured questionnaire. Twenty-item Nomophobia questionnaire was used to assess nomophobia. In-depth interviews were conducted among students with moderate and severe nomophobia scores.Results:Among the 774 participants, 23.5% had severe nomophobia scores. Older age, male gender, duration and frequency of smartphone usage, use for social networking, checking without reason, and checking smartphone after waking up in the morning were significantly associated with nomophobia. The in-depth interview showed attributes of addiction among the students, like dependency and compulsive behavior. Students also experienced anxiety and frustration when they had to part with their smartphones.Conclusion:A sizable minority of the students had signs of severe nomophobia, distinct patterns of usage, and misperceptions regarding health and their usage pattern.

Prevalence of text neck syndrome and SMS thumb among smartphone users in college-going students: a cross-sectional survey study

Physical exposure during mobile phone use results in poor posture and repetitive movements of the hand and thumb cause groups of symptoms. The terms ‘text neck syndrome’ and ‘SMS thumb’ are the most common among them. Our aim was to find out the prevalence rate of text neck syndrome and SMS thumb among smartphone users in college-going students. A cross-sectional study was conducted by a random sampling method from a recognized institution. A total of 113 participants, both male and female, in the age group 17–25 years participated in this study. Participants were asked to fill in a proforma containing the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), the Neck Disability Index (NDI), and the Cornell Hand Discomfort Questionnaire (CHDQ). Descriptive statistics were used to express the prevalence rate and, for the demographic data, the Pearson correlation coefficient was used to correlate between the NMP-Q with the NDI and CHDQ, respectively. The mean age, height, weight, and body mass index (BMI) of participants were 21.15 ± 2.17 years, 160 ± 7.36 cm, 55.50 ± 13.3 kg, and 21.53 ± 5.60 kg/m2, respectively. Of the study population, 46.9% reported having pain in their neck, 42.5% reported having mild to severe disability in their neck, and 29.2% reported having pain in their thumb due to prolonged smartphone use. There exists a significant positive correlation between the NMP-Q with the NDI (p < 0.001) and CHDQ (p = 0.001). The results of this study showed that text neck syndrome and SMS thumb are seen in nomophobic students. The musculoskeletal problems may be short term initially but can develop into long-term disabilities if proper caution is not taken.

Indonesian Version of Addiction Rating Scale of Smartphone Usage Adapted from Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) In Junior High School.

BACKGROUND:The increase of smartphone user among Indonesian junior high school students, particularly for teenagers, indicates the addiction factor of the smartphone.AIM:This research is designed to adapt the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SASS-SV) to Indonesian version based on cultural adaptation of the rating scale.METHODS:This study involves 300 participants consisted of 151 of male children and 149 female children with an average age is 13.27 years-of-old. The validity of concurrent was used to obtain the validity, while the internal consistency and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) were conducted to confirm the reliability of the rating scale.RESULTS:In purpose to measure internal consistency, the Cronbach alpha has been applied. The Cronbach alpha value was 0.740, and Concurrent validity was checked to NMP the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) based on Indonesian version. The analysis of ROC showed that the value of Area under the Curve (AUC) was 0.997 (0.990-1.000), with cut-off value accounted for ≥ 32, a sensitivity value of 0.91 and specificity value was 0.973 for the male children. On the hand of female children, the results showed similarity with the AUC was 0.996 (0.998-1.000), and the cut-off, sensitivity and specificity values were accounted for ≥ 34, 0.91, and 0.974 respectively.CONCLUSION:The Indonesian version of SAS-SV provided acceptable validation results as well as the reliability, and this version can be used to evaluate the smartphone addiction in Indonesia.

Evaluation of the Levels of Nomophobia and Academic Stress among Medical Students

Background: Technology has been intruding into human’s daily life so much that most of us would develop dependence on it and so, smartphone is not exclusion. There has been increase in the usage of smartphone especially among student population for various reasons, which could foster addictive behaviors. Medical students are vulnerable population for such addictive behaviors probably due to tremendous academic pressure, where they find smartphone usage as way of escape & ease to relieve from ongoing stressful situations and so on. Objective: To determine the smartphone usage pattern, nomophobia and correlation of nomophobia with academic stress among medical students. Material and Methods: Second year & third year medical students were considered as subjects. Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) and Academic Stress Inventory (ASI) were administered. Results: Almost all the students in the study group had nomophobia but at different levels which includes Mild (24.7%), Moderate (65.8%) and Severe (9.3%) and slightly higher among female students. All the domains of the academic stress inventory showed statistically significant association with nomophobia i.e. there is a positive correlation between nomophobia and academic stress among medical students. Conclusion: Apart from various stresses which a medical student undergo, academic stress seems to be an important factor which could have great influence on Nomophobia [No-Mobile-Phobia] and can influence smartphone addiction. This study emphasizes the need for early interventions required to address the medical students in effectively managing their stress and reduce the chances of mobile phone addiction.

An Assessment of Pharmacy Students’ Psychological Attachment to Smartphones at Two Colleges of Pharmacy

Objective. To determine the prevalence of nomophobia, the discomfort or anxiety experienced from being without a cellphone, among student pharmacists. Methods. A validated nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) was administered to two groups of student pharmacists at two different Doctor of Pharmacy programs (N=192). Demographic and other information was collected including identified gender, year of birth, type of smartphone, and use of messaging services. Scores on the NMP-Q were used to classify respondents as absent of nomophobia (<20), having mild nomophobia (21-59), having moderate nomophobia (60-99), or having severe nomophobia (>100 out of a maximum score of 140). Results. Of 224 eligible students, 192 (85.7%) responded to the survey. Mean nomophobia scores were statistically similar between programs. Most students' scores were within the moderate nomophobia range (56.8%), while 24.5% were in the mild range and 18.2% were in the severe range. Score classifications were similar between schools. Overall, the data showed good internal consistency, with a Cronbach's alpha of .95 for the combined group. Conclusion. Nomophobia is a relatively new psychological phenomenon, and little is known about its potential implications. The student pharmacists in our study all had NMP-Q scores consistent with some degree of nomophobia. Educators must continue to study smartphone use and help student pharmacists maximize the benefits of smartphones while avoiding the potential negative psychological consequences associated with their use.

Nomophobia: mobile phone dependence among students of a medical college in Central Odisha, India

Background: Nomophobia, stands for “no mobile phone phobia". The tremendous increase in mobile phone usage among youngsters has led to negative impact on their mental health status. Current study aims at finding out the prevalence of nomophobia (mild, moderate, and severe), various health related conditions and independent risk factors of severe nomophobia among medical students of a tertiary care college and Hospital of Central Odisha.Methods: A cross sectional study carried out among 450 students of a medical college of Central Odisha. Simple random sampling was done. Predesigned pretested questionnaire including Nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS and logistic regression was used to evaluate the independent risk factors of severe nomophobia.Results: Out of 450 students, 246 (54.6%) were boys and rest were girls. Nomohobia was universally present and students suffering from mild, moderate and severe form of nomophobia comprised of 33 (7.3%), 327 (72.7%) and 90 (20%) respectively. Independent risk factors of severe nomophobia were fourth year of study and above (aOR=2.69), use of costly handsets (aOR=4.56), monthly bill of more than rupees 500 for cell phone use (aOR=6.09) and anxiousness of staying updated with news all the time (aOR=4.86).Conclusions: Nomophobia is a highly prevalent condition among the medical students found across age groups, gender and socio-economic status which depends on phone usage. It is recommended that screening and proper counselling should be available in order to decrease the burden and create awareness about nomophobia among the medical students.

Modern Çağ Bağımlılığının Davranışsal Örüntüleri: Geleceğin Yöneticilerinin Nomofobisi

Nomophobia, is one of the most recent phobias of the 21st century emerged due to the improvement of communication technologies and changing expectance of people in communicating. This study aims to explore the level of nomophobia based on some of the major demographic factors such as age, gender and monthly income. Furthermore, it looks into the relationship between variables of phone use, such as frequency of checking the phone and time of phone ownership, and the four dimensions of nomophobia. As the instruments of the study, a demographic questionnaire and the Nomophobia Questionnaire designed by Yıldırım and Correia (2015) were administered to 242 Business and Administration students at a Turkish university. The findings revealed that the level of nomophobia did not differ based on the demographic variables. It found that the more frequent the participants checked their phone the lower their level of nomophobia was. In a similar vein, participants who checked their phone in the morning and night have indicated to be less nomophobic. The results were discussed and implications suggested.

Nomophobia an Emerging Fear: An Experimental Exploration among University Students

Modern communication technologies have become a very essential part of our lives, especially smartphones (Salehan &amp; Negahban, 2013). Present study explored the effects of fear of separation from the smartphone on university students. The sample comprised of three hundred students of Bahauddin Zakariya University Multan with age range of 18-30 years. The purpose of this present study was to explore the existence of nomophobia among smartphone users. Furthermore, it was aimed to investigate effect of smartphone separation causes anxiety. An experimental research design was used and participants were randomly assigned to two conditions. Two measures were used in the study they included, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) developed by Spielberger, (1983) and nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) developed by Yildirim ( 2015). Results revealed that 68% of the students experienced moderate level of nomophobia and the level of anxiety gradually increased with increase in duration of separation from phone. One- way analysis of variance found significant difference on different levels of anxiety in experimental group I and experimental group II. No significant gender differences were found for state anxiety and nomophobia. It is concluded from the findings of the study that excessive use and dependence on smartphones does cause anxiety and feeling of restlessness in the absence of smartphone.

Prevalence and Determinants of “No-Mobile” Phobia (Nomophobia) among University Students

AbstractBackground: A simple random sample was followed to include the total required study sample at study colleges for both boys and girls. In each study college, the lists of students' names with their university IDs were used to select participant students. Selected students were personally contacted by the researcher, with the help of their tutors.Aim of Study: To identify magnitude of “no-mobile phobia” (nomophobia) among Health Sciences students at King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.Subject and Methods: Following a cross-sectional study design, 625 health sciences colleges' students were included. A self-administered data collection study questionnaire was designed by the researchers, which included personal charac-teristics; mobile phone use: Duration of use of mobile phone, access to internet, average duration of daily use of the mobile phone, type of used mobile phone and the validated 20-item Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q).Results: All participants had smartphones. Prevalence of nomophobia among students was 85.3%, with 22.1% having severe nomophobia, and 63.2% having mild nomophobia. Students of applied medical sciences had the highest percentage of severe nomophobia, while students of medicine had the lowest percentage (35. 1% and 15.8%, respectively). Nomo-phobia grades differed significantly according to study colleges (p=0.003). Percentages of students with severe nomophobia were significantly higher among those who had internet access through their personal mobile phones (p=0.017) and also among those who spend more than 2 hours daily with their mobile phones (p<0.001). However, grades of nomophobia did not differ significantly according to students' gender, or Grade Point Average (GPA).Conclusions and Recommendations: Mobile phone addic-tion is common among undergraduate students of Health Sciences Colleges at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia. Health education of university students is necessary to prevent possible harmful effects of excessive use of mobile phones.

Evaluation of nomophobia among medical students using smartphone in north India

BackgroundSmartphone's popularity has risen to such an extent in recent years that it is unimaginable for the people to stay away from it for a minute. The excessive usage has given rise to a condition termed as nomophobia or a feeling of discomfort or anxiety experienced whenever unable to use the smartphone. The aim of this study was to evaluate nomophobia among medical students who are using smartphones. MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted among the undergraduate medical students. A 20-item nomophobia questionnaire was used to assess the prevalence of nomophobia among the students, and also the purpose and in which context smartphone was used was also asked. Data collected were coded and entered into a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. It was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 16, software (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). A chi-square test was used to test the association, and p < 0.05 was considered significant. ResultsThe mean age of the 451 students was 20.7 ± 1.72 years, and the majority were females. Mild nomophobia was seen in 15.5% of the students; 67.2% were having moderate nomophobia, while 17.3% were suffering from severe nomophobia. The overall highest mean score was for ‘not able to communicate’ dimension of nomophobia and lowest for ‘giving up convenience.’ ConclusionNomophobia is an emerging behavioural problem which needs attention. It is of serious concern that all medical students were suffering from nomophobia, with varying grade of severity. Increasing awareness regarding the harmful effects of smartphone addiction is needed.

The dark side of smartphone usage (Nomophobia): Do we need to worry about it?

Aim: There are so many studies about psychological and sociological aspects of nomophobia. We also investigated sociodemographic aspects of nomophobia. The present study aimed to examine nomophobia among the medical students, and its relationship with different variables.Methods: Participants in the study were 680 medical students from the Faculty of Medicine of Hacettepe University. The Nomophobia Questionnaire and the Satisfaction with Life Scale were used as data collection instruments.Results and Conclusion: It was found that students had moderate nomophobia and nomophobia was related to academic achievement. Our findings indicated that the prevalence of nomophobia does not vary by gender, class standing and living arrangements, whereas showed that students’ nomophobia levels differed significantly with age, academic achievement, type of housing and carrying a phone charger. According to our findings, lots of suggestions were presented to practitioners and future studies.

A study on nomophobia and its correlation with sleeping difficulty and anxiety among medical students in a medical college, Telangana

Background: Social media and digital communication have become a part of life. Many things were made easy through online connectivity. The mobile phones not only connects people at anytime, anywhere and with anybody, but also movable and portable. Mobile phones when used extensively may cause a number of physical and psychological problems. Nomophobia (NO-MObile phone-PHOBIA) is one of the psychological problems related to exclusive use of mobile phone. It is the fear/anxiety of being away from mobile phone contact. The objectives are to study grading of nomophobia and to find out any correlation exits between nomophobia and sleeping difficulty and anxiety among medical students.Methods: A cross sectional study is conducted for duration of 6 months among medical students using semi-structured questionnaire. Nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) is used to assess nomophobia, Athens insomnia scale is used to assess sleeping difficulty and general anxiety disorder- 7 Item scale is used to assess general anxiety.Results: The study showed that out of 364 students, 62 (17%) have mild, 234 (64.3%) have moderate and 68 (18.7%) have severe nomophobia. There is a weak positive correlation between nomophobia and sleeping difficult and anxiety.Conclusions: There problem of nomophobia is alarming; there is a need to reduce nomophobia, and to evolve effective strategies to enhance human interaction.

The Relationship Between Nomophobia and Maladaptive Coping Styles in a Sample of Italian Young Adults: Insights and Implications From a Cross-Sectional Study.

BackgroundInformation technologies have become an integral part of the modern society; however, it is speculated that their overuse would result in addiction. Nomophobia refers to the irrational fear of being out of contact with virtual communication platforms. Generally, upon exposure to stress, humans adjust by employing cognitive mechanisms and behavioral efforts known as coping strategies.ObjectiveThe goal of the research was to explore coping styles implemented in subjects with nomophobia.MethodsThis was a cross-sectional study involving young adult participants (undergraduate students and younger subjects) who were recruited via an online survey using a snowball approach. The Italian version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire was administered to subjects. The measurement of coping styles was done using the 28-item Brief COPE questionnaire. Continuous data were computed as means and standard deviations, whereas categorical data were expressed as percentages, where appropriate. Correlation analysis was performed between the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Brief COPE scores. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted in order to shed light on the determinants of each coping style and its association with nomophobia.ResultsA total of 403 subjects took part in the study. Subjects with higher nomophobia scores responded when confronted with stress with behavioral disengagement (r=.16, P<.001), denial (r=.19, P<.001), self-blame (r=.12, P=.02), self-distraction (r=.22, P<.001), venting (r=.28, P<.001), use of emotional (r=.25, P<.001), and instrumental support (r=.16, P=.001).ConclusionNomophobia subjects adopt maladaptive coping strategies when confronted with stress. The acknowledgment of how nomophobia subjects react provides insight and introduces a focus for preventative and interventional measures in this population.

Psychometric properties of the Brief Symptom Inventory in nomophobic subjects: insights from preliminary confirmatory factor, exploratory factor, and clustering analyses in a sample of healthy Italian volunteers.

BackgroundThe Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), developed by Derogatis in 1975, represents an important standardized screening instrument that enables one to quantitatively assess psychological distress and psychiatric disorders. The BSI is a 53-item self-report scale, measuring nine dimensions that can be summed up to reflect three global indices, including the General Severity Index (GSI). In the era of new information and communication technologies, nomophobia (“no mobile phobia”) is an emerging disorder, characterized by the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. Nothing is known, however, about the factor structure and reliability of the BSI in a population of nomophobic subjects. This study aimed at addressing this gap in knowledge.MethodsA sample of 403 subjects aged 27.91±8.63 years (160 males, 39.7% of the entire sample, and 243 females, 60.3%), recruited via snowball sampling, volunteered to take part in the study. The Italian versions of the Nomophobia questionnaire and the BSI were administered. Exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, and clustering analysis were carried out together with correlation analysis, analysis of variance, and multivariate regression analysis.ResultsFor each BSI subscale, scores were significantly higher than the norms. The nine subscales exhibited acceptable-to-good Cronbach’s alpha coefficients, varying from 0.733 for psychoticism to 0.875 for depression. Overall, the reliability of the entire instrument proved to be excellent (alpha coefficient=0.972). Furthermore, all BSI subscales as well as BSI synthetic indexes correlated with nomophobia in a significant way. Stratifying the population according to the severity of nomophobia (mild, 206 individuals, 51.1% of the sample; moderate, 167 subjects, 41.4%; and severe, 30 individuals, 7.4%), the GSI score could distinguish (P<0.001) between mild and moderate (0.99±0.71 vs 1.32±0.81) and between mild and severe (0.99±0.71 vs 1.54±0.79) nomophobia, although not between moderate and severe nomophobia (P>0.05). Similar patterns could be found for the other subscales of the BSI. Finally, looking at the fit indexes, the second-order 9-factor model best fit the data compared with the Derogatis 1-factor model.ConclusionThe findings of our study show that the BSI is a reliable and valid instrument with acceptable psychometric properties, and can be administered to populations of nomophobic subjects.

The relationships between nomophobia, alexithymia and metacognitive problems in an adolescent population.

Yavuz M, Altan B, Bayrak B, Gündüz M, Bolat N. The relationships between nomophobia, alexithymia and metacognitive problems in an adolescent population. Turk J Pediatr 2019; 61: 345-351. Nomophobia refers to an intense anxiety and stress caused by being out of contact with mobile phones (MPs). It is known that excessive engagement with MPs decreases adolescents` psychological well-being, social and academic functioning. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of nomophobia with alexithymia which is characterized by difficulties in describing and expressing emotions and using empathy, and with the metacognition characteristics which have the function of controlling the cognitions in an adolescent population. The study was conducted on 1817 participants (n = 972, 54% female, n = 835, 46% male). The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), The Twenty-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and The Metacognition Questionnaire for Children and Adolescents (MCQ-C) were administered to participants. A question form for socio-demographic data was also administered to participants and their families. Cathegorical variables were analyzed by chi-square test, and numerical variables were analyzed by independent sample t test. The relationships between the scales` scores were analyzed by the Pearson-product moments correlation test. The predictive effects of alexithymia, metacognition problems and gender were assessed by multiple linear regression analysis. Nomophobia, alexithymia and metacognition problem levels were significantly higher in females than males. There was a significant correlation between NMP-Q and TAS-20 scores and MCQ-C scores. TAS-20, MCQ-C scores and gender significantly predicted the nomophobia when NMP-Q score was a dependent variable. Therapeutic interventions for improving social skills like emphatic thinking and/or increasing emotional expression may be beneficial in the treatment of adolescents with alexithymic traits which experience nomophobia. Moreover, interventions that enhance metacognitive skills which can control negative thoughts triggered by the possibility of losing contact with MPs may increase treatment success.

Nomophobia and its relationship with depression, anxiety, and quality of life in adolescents.

Background:Nomophobia is a portmanteau for “no mobile phone” and phobia or mobile phone addiction. Nomophobia refers to discomfort, anxiety, nervousness, or anguish caused by being out of contact with a mobile phone. There is a paucity of literature from India on this emerging mental health condition.Objectives:The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of nomophobia and its relationship with depression, anxiety, and quality of life among adolescent students.Materials and Methods:A cross-sectional study was carried out in 1386 high school students aged between 14 and 17 years. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was used to assess nomophobia. Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Short Form-36 (SF-36) were used to measure depression, anxiety, and quality of life, respectively.Results:Out of 1386 adolescents, 569 (41.05%), 303 (21.86%), and 82 (5.1%) have mild, moderate, and severe nomophobia, respectively. There were significantly more males with nomophobia. There was a statistically significant relationship between NMP-Q score and BDI, BAI, and SF-36 scores. A significant positive correlation was observed between NMP-Q score and scores on BDI and BAI and a significant negative correlation between SF-36 score.Conclusion:The results of the study indicate that nomophobia is an emerging mental health condition, especially in male adolescents. Nomophobia is significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and poor quality of life. Multicentric studies are needed to better understand this disorder.

Evaluation of the factor structure of the Chinese version of the nomophobia questionnaire

Nomophobia refers to the fear of being out of mobile phone contact or being unreachable through one’s mobile phone. As this is a newly researched phenomenon, a great deal of effort is needed to understand the underlying structure of nomophobia and how it develops. The current study aimed to take the first step in evaluating the factor structure of a Chinese version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q). The participants consisted of 966 college students sampled using a combination of convenience and random methods. The NMP-Q was translated into Chinese, and exploratory factor analysis was carried out using a principal component method with Varimax rotation; subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis was performed. The findings showed that a four-factor model consisting of 20 items constituted the best fit for the data collected from our sample. These findings provide support for the robustness of the structure of the NMP-Q through cross-cultural validation. The Chinese version of the NMP-Q seems to be appropriate as an effective questionnaire to assess nomophobic behavior among college students.

Comparative study of nomophobia among Spanish and Portuguese nursing students.

Nomophobia is the fear of leaving the house without a mobile and being out of mobile phone contact and affects different areas of a person's life, especially in terms of social, work and academic relationships due to a dependence on the use of smartphones. Discovering the prevalence of nomophobia among nursing students is very important, as the misuse of smartphones in clinical practice may cause distractions, affecting the quality of care and putting patient safety at risk. Furthermore, it can lead to poorer academic performance during class. The aim of this study was to compare the levels of nomophobia experienced by nursing students at the University of Almeria, Spain and the Polytechnic Institute of Braganza, Portugal. A comparative descriptive observational study was carried out. A nomophobia questionnaire adapted to the Spanish and Portuguese sociolinguistic context was employed; 258 participants comprised the subjects of study. The main results showed both Spanish and Portuguese nursing students scored higher than average regarding levels of nomophobia. However, the scores gathered from items on the questionnaire were generally higher among the Portuguese population than the Spanish one. The Portuguese students (54.7%) felt more anxious than the Spanish students (35.4%) if their battery ran out. Similarly, the Portuguese population showed a greater need for instant communication with their family and friends. In conclusion, the dimensions explored indicate significant levels of nomophobia among both nursing student populations, with higher levels among the Portuguese population than the Spanish.