PurposeThis study examined the prevalence and relationship between addictive use of smartphones and symptoms of depression and anxiety among female undergraduates.Design/methodology/approachStandardized scales were used to measure the addictive use of smartphones, depression and anxiety among 398 female students (mean age 21.75 years, SD = 2.67) at two large higher institutions in southwest Nigeria and were opportunely sampled. Two hypotheses were tested using Spearman's rho and Mann–Whitney U tests.FindingsThe results showed that 1.01% of the respondents were probable smartphone addicts and 17.34% were at-risk, while 14.32% and 16.33% manifested symptoms of anxiety and moderate-to-severe depression, respectively. Depression (r = 0.24, p < 0.01) and anxiety (r = 0.21, p < 0.01) have significant relationship with addictive use of smartphone. Addictive/at-risk smartphone users significantly scored higher on symptoms of depression (average rank of 233.40) than normal smartphone users (average rank of 191.88); U = 9387.50; z = −2.81, p < 0.05; Also, addictive/at-risk smartphone users reported significantly higher level of anxiety (average rank of 229.27) than normal smartphone users (average rank of 192.81); U = 9689.00; z = −2.46, p < 0.05.Research limitations/implicationsGeneralizing these results to a clinical setting and other at-risk demographic groups might prove difficult due to the respondents' condition of homogeneity.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that relationships exist between the addictive use of smartphones and symptoms of depression and anxiety among undergraduate students in southwest Nigeria. Clinicians should assess smartphone use in the management of depression and anxiety disorders.Social implicationsUniversity administrators should target prevention and intervention strategies that would assist students to be taught positive ways of using their smartphones.Originality/valueThe study contributes to the body of knowledge by revealing relationships between smartphone addiction and mental health in an African sample.

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Knowledge about politics and government activities increases due to the socialization and enlightenment functions of the mass  media. Youths and students are the largest bloc of voters in Nigeria but seemingly least political informed. This study examines the frequency of the forms of media accessed and level of political knowledge among Nigerian students. It also assessed the relationships between political knowledge and access to  radio, television, newspaper, and social media. Moreover, it investigated the predictive influence of the frequency of media access on Nigerian  students’ political knowledge. The study adopted Uses and Gratification Theory (UGT) to explain how media is used to the advantage of people. Using cross-sectional survey research design, a structured questionnaire was used to collect information on students’ demographic, frequency of  media access and knowledge of Nigerian politics from 246 randomly selected students of the Polytechnic, Ibadan (Mean age is 25.07 years, SD = 6.23). Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data. Findings identified social media as the most frequently use media,  followed by radio, television and newspaper.31% of the respondents had very high political knowledge while 3% had no political knowledge. Access to radio is the only significant correlate (r = 0.42, p<0.05) and independent predictor (β= 0.43, t=-3.98, p<0.05) of political knowledge although access  to radio, television, newspaper and social media are significant joint predictors of political knowledge (R2= .18, F (4, 241) = 4.32). Therefore, the study concludes that radio is the foremost source of political knowledge amongst undergraduate students in Ibadan, Nigeria. It recommends that various  media institutions and political analysts should take advantage of the social media to make more audience politically knowledgeable. Keywords: Political knowledge; Mass media; Social media;  Traditional media; Nigerian students.

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Single-parenthood and cohabitation are becoming ‘trendy’ family structures in many African societies. Guided by the structural functionalism approach, types of family structures and the influence of globalisation on the African family structure were discussed. Secondary data from Demographic Health Surveys conducted in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda, as well as World Family Map and various studies from sub-Saharan African countries were also used to examine the prevalence of the married-couple, cohabiting-couple, and single-parent family structures, and the findings presented descriptively. Results show that single-parenthood is most common in South Africa and married-couple family structure is popular in Nigeria and Ghana whereas marriage, single-parenthood, and cohabitation recorded a comparable level of popularity in Uganda. In the study, it was discovered that cohabitation and single-parenthood have lost some stigma in many African societies and are becoming common and socially acceptable, especially among educated citizens and in Christian dominated countries on the continent. Society, governmental and non-governmental agencies, education and religious institutions, as well as clinical and social services, should be attuned to the currently diverse new ‘normal’ family systems.