Nomophobia and its predictors in undergraduate students of Lahore, Pakistan

Abstract

Increasing rates of smartphone use in Pakistani undergraduate students, coupled with a dearth of research, indicate a need for a better understanding of the effects of Smartphone use on this population. This cross-sectional study therefore aimed to measure rates of nomophobia and its predictors among this understudied population. A total of 138 undergraduate students of a private university in Lahore, Pakistan completed a demographics questionnaire and the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) as part of a larger study. All students reported some level of nomophobia, with the largest proportion reporting moderate levels. Gender differences were seen in NMP-Q scores, with women reporting greater levels of nomophobia, specifically within the "Not being able to communicate" subscale of the NMP-Q. Multiple linear regression indicated that, while hours of usage per day, number of times per day checking phone, and amount of time in university were all correlated with NMP-Q scores, however, the only significant predictor was hours of usage per day [R ¼ .331, R 2 ¼ .109, F (3, 116) ¼ 4.748, p < .05]. The results of this study indicate that, as use of smartphones continues to increase in this developing nation, monitoring nomophobia and its correlates is of great importance, and carries with it implications at the societal and university policy levels.

The Prevalence of Nomophobia by Population and by Research Tool: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression

“…India contributed with seven studies [2,3,[15][16][17][18][19][20], Iran [21,22], Turkey [1,23], and Pakistan [24,25] contributed each with two studies, and Australia [26], Bahrain [8], Israel [27], Italy [28], Kuwait [29], and USA [30] each contributed with one study. Fourteen studies [2,[15][16][17][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][28][29][30] (70%) of the studies recruited university students as participants, while four studies [8,18,27,28] (20%) recruited young adults and only two studies [1,3] (10%) recruited high school students. The NMP-Q was used in 12 studies [1,3,8,17,19,[24][25][26]…”

“…Fourteen studies [2,[15][16][17][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][28][29][30] (70%) of the studies recruited university students as participants, while four studies [8,18,27,28] (20%) recruited young adults and only two studies [1,3] (10%) recruited high school students. The NMP-Q was used in 12 studies [1,3,8,17,19,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30] (60%), and the remaining used other method to assess the nomophobia, mainly researcherdeveloped research tools. Researcher studies reported the prevalence of nomophobia by severity-mild, moderate, and severe.…”

The relationship between the nomophobic levels of higher education students in Ghana and academic achievement

“…Moreno-Guerrero et al [ 19 ], as well as Betoncu and Ozdamli [ 14 ], Ramos-Soler et al [ 74 ], Kim, LaRose and Peng [ 75 ], and Gutiérrez-Puertas et al [ 76 ], proclaimed that the failure to communicate or reach family or friends rapidly is one of the main factors that bring the feeling of uneasiness among higher education students. The finding is significant for educational policymakers to monitor further the psychological indications of smartphone use and ownership [ 2 , 41 ], among other subpopulations in Ghana.…”

“…The dimensions were coded to gain a clear understanding of the results. The NMP-Q scale provides a numerical score varying from 20 to 140, with maximum scores (NMP-Q = 140) symbolising highest severity [ 41 ] of nomophobic behaviour. A score between 100 and 140 infer severe nomophobia, scores between 60–99 indicate that nomophobia is moderate, scores 21–59 infer that nomophobia is mild, and a score of 20 infers that nomophobia is absent [ 34 , 60 , 61 ].…”

“…Smartphone adoption in Ghana stands at 55% of the entire population, much higher than the regional average of 44.8% [ 57 ]. With the propagation and adoption of smartphones essentially by higher education students [ 2 , 33 ] and the adverse effect that nomophobia has on multivariable outcomes in other understudied populations [ 41 ], an inquiry into nomophobia prevalence among higher education students in Ghana will lead to a complete awareness of how the smartphone technologies are affecting higher education students in Ghana. This study, therefore, examines the nomophobia prevalence, the sociodemographic variables influencing nomophobia index, as well as the associations between nomophobia and academic achievement among higher education students in Ghana.…”