Prevalence and Associated Factors of Problematic Smartphone Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Bangladeshi Study

Abstract

Background: Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has been increasing hastily in recent decades, and it has become inseparable during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among the students who are at risk of problematic smartphone use. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of PSU during the COVID-19 pandemic among the Bangladeshi students. Methods: A total of 601 Bangladeshi students were recruited through an online-based crosssectional survey that was conducted between October 7 and November 2, 2020. The survey collected information related to socio-demographics, behavioral health, internet use behaviors, depression, anxiety, and PSU. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were performed to present the relationship between the studied variables and PSU. Multiple linear regression analysis was also used for investigating the explanatory power of the predictive models for PSU. Results: Surprisingly, about 86.9% of the students scored to be problematic smartphone users (≥21 out of a total 36 based on the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale). In addition, medical students, engaging in a relationship, performing less physical activity, longer duration of internet use, some sorts of internet use purpose (eg, messaging, watching videos, using social media), depression, and anxiety were significantly associated with higher scores of PSU. After adjusting all the studied variables, the final model explained a 31.3% variance predicting PSU. Conclusion:The present study is one of the first approaches to assess the prevalence of PSU among the Bangladeshi students during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas the addiction level was superfluous (and this may be due to more online engagement related to the pandemic). Thus, the study recommended strategies or policies related to the students' riskreducing and healthy use of smartphones.

The Severity of Depression, Anxiety, and Stress: Recommendations From Joint Work of Research Center and Psychology Clinics in COVID-19 Pandemic

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The role of sociodemographics, behavioral factors, and internet use behaviors in students' psychological health amid COVID‐19 pandemic in Bangladesh

“…The authors would like to thank all the participants and research assistants (see supplementary file, for a list), without whom the self‐funded study would not implement. Besides, it should be noted that from this project, two papers are published with different objectives 43,44 …”

“…Besides, it should be noted that from this project, two papers are published with different objectives. 43,44…”

The effect of university students’ COVID-19 stress on smartphone addiction: The mediating effects of self-regulation

“…스트레스는 자연재해나 위기 상황에서 나타나는 개인의 반응 으로 (Keinan et al, 1992;Tong, 2004), 감염병의 경우 일상생 활 스트레스보다 더 극심하고 광범위하며, 통제할 수 없는 수준의 스트레스를 유발하는 것으로 보고되고 있다 (Lau et al, 2010 (Cao et al, 2020;David & Roberts, 2021;Moon, 2021;Serra et al, (David & Roberts, 2021;Hosen et al, 2021;Serra et al, 2021), 코로나 스트레스가 스마트폰 의존, 스마트폰 중독 및 소셜미디어 중독에 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다 Peng et al, 2021;Zhao & Zhou; (Derryberry & Rothbart, 1988;Eisenberg et al, 1996;Kim, 2021)으로 정의된다. 자기조절능력은 심리사회적 적응과 관련된 다양한 변인들을 예측하는 변인으로 (Eisenberg et al, 2016), 자신의 욕구와 감정, 행동을 적절하게 통제하고 조절하여 규칙에 어긋나지 않도록 하는 능력이다 (Seligman & Csikzentmihalyi, 2000).…”