Anxiety about COVID-19 Infection, and Its Relation to Smartphone Addiction and Demographic Variables in Middle Eastern Countries

Abstract

This study explores the level and frequency of anxiety about COVID-19 infection in some Middle Eastern countries, and differences in this anxiety by country, gender, workplace, and social status. Another aim was to identify the predictive power of anxiety about COVID-19 infection, daily smartphone use hours, and age in smartphone addiction. The participants were 651 males and females from Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Egypt. The participants’ ages ranged between 18 and 73 years (M 33.36, SD = 10.69). A questionnaire developed by the authors was used to examine anxiety about COVID-19 infection. Furthermore, the Italian Smartphone Addiction Inventory was used after being translated, adapted, and validated for the purposes of the present study. The results revealed that the percentages of participants with high, average, and low anxiety about COVID-19 infection were 10.3%, 37.3%, and 52.4%, respectively. The mean scores of anxiety about COVID-19 infection in the four countries were average: Egypt (M = 2.655), Saudi Arabia (M = 2.458), the United Arab Emirates (M = 2.413), and Jordan (M = 2.336). Significant differences in anxiety about COVID-19 infection were found between Egypt and Jordan, in favor of Egypt. Significant gender differences were found in favor of females in the Jordanian and Egyptian samples, and in favor of males in the Emirati sample. No significant differences were found regarding workplace and social status. The results also revealed a significant positive relationship between anxiety about COVID-19 infection, daily smartphone use hours, and age on the one hand, and smartphone addiction on the other. The strongest predictor of smartphone addiction was anxiety about COVID-19 infection, followed by daily use hours. Age did not significantly contribute to the prediction of smartphone addiction. The study findings shed light on the psychological health and cognitive aspects of anxiety about COVID-19 infection and its relation to smartphone addiction.

The effect of mobile phone addiction on perceived stress and mediating role of ruminations: Evidence from Chinese and Czech university students

“…Moreover, by the time of data collection, the restrictive measures in both countries were already relatively relaxed, lectures were carried out face-to-face and students could already meet and travel relatively freely (except to places with a more serious situation in China such as Shanghai). Based on this, we hypothesize that the Covid-19 pandemic did not directly affect the observed relationships between the variables but rather accentuated the inter-individual differences between students depending on the availability of coping resources ( Al Qudah et al, 2021 ; Kayis et al, 2021 ; Kovács et al, 2021 ). This is supported by the fact that the relationships reported in the present study and the mediating effect of rumination have been documented in studies both before ( Liu et al, 2017 ; Lian et al, 2021 ) and during the Covid-19 pandemic ( Peng et al, 2022 ).…”

COVID-19 Victimization Experience and College Students’ Mobile Phone Addiction: A Moderated Mediation Effect of Future Anxiety and Mindfulness

“…Mobile phone addiction refers to the loss of self-control resulting from the excessive usage of mobile phones and leads to difficulties in daily life [9]. Research has shown that the fear of COVID-19 and anxiety regarding COVID-19 infection are identified as significant positive predictors of smartphone addiction [10,11]. Another study demonstrated that trauma exerted a significant predictive effect on mobile phone addiction among college 2 of 16 students [12].…”

The Impact of Adolescent Resilience on Mobile Phone Addiction During COVID-19 Normalization and Flooding in China: A Chain Mediating

“…Researchers found a significant positive relationship between anxiety about COVID-19 infection and the number of daily smartphone use hours. The strongest predictor of smartphone addiction was anxiety about COVID-19 infection ( Al Qudah et al, 2021 ).…”