Exploring the role of smartphone use and demographic factors in predicting nomophobia among university students in Jordan

ABSTRACT

Nomophobia is one of the problems of the overuse of mobile phones and the fear of missing out, which has become prevalent among university students and interferes with their daily activities. This study aimed to investigate the extent and potential predictors of nomophobia among university students, including the role of smartphone use and demographic factors. The study surveyed 636 students from various academic levels using the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) through an online cross-sectional survey. The results showed that nomophobia varied in severity from mild to severe. Females experienced nomophobia more frequently than males (p < .001). Gender, phone-checking frequency, number of calls made and received per day, and number of texts received per day were all predictors of nomophobia. With such knowledge, targeted interventions and support systems can be developed to cater to these students’ unique requirements and struggles regarding smartphone use and nomophobia.

KEYWORDS:

• Smartphone use
• nomophobia
• university students
• attitudes
• prevalence
• gender

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Nahla Al Ali and Sara Matarneh performed material preparation, data collection, and analysis. Nahla Al Ali wrote the first draft of the manuscript, and all authors commented on previous versions. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. Nahla Al Ali contributed substantially to conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, and manuscript writing. Sara Matarneh was responsible for recruitment and data collection and had full access to all the data in the study. Nahla Al Ali and Sara Matarneh were responsible for data analysis, drafting, and critical revisions of the manuscript. Nahla Al Ali takes responsibility for the integrity of the data in the study and the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors contributed to the write-up.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated and analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author [Dr. Nahla Al Ali] on reasonable request.

Ethical approval

Approval number 29/132/2020 (research No.284/2020) was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) for Human Research at the Jordan University of Science and Technology.

Patient consent

Patient consent for publication statement (if relevant) – Not applicable.

Additional information

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study.