Prevalence of problematic cell phone use in an adult population in Spain as assessed by the Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale (MPPUS)

Abstract

Problematic cell phone use has alarmingly increased in industrialized countries in the past 10 years. For many perpetrators, it can turn into a behavioural addiction, although this is not a recognized medical condition. Although there are many tools for evaluating this use, one of the most widely used tools is the Mobile Phone Problematic Use Scale (MPPUS), which we test on a representative sample of the population in Spain to obtain an estimate of the prevalence of problematic cell phone use in our midst. The age range consists of 16–65 years, with 1,126 surveys conducted. In this population, we verify that the reliability and internal consistency of the MPPUS (α = 0.939) are maintained. Additionally, the construct validity, considering the derived factors (Abuse and Dependence, Craving and Loss of Control, and Dependence on the Social Environment) are aligned with other research and with diverse external criteria of addiction. We establish four categories of users (Casual, Regular, At Risk, and Problematic) and obtain a prevalence of 15.4% among At Risk Users and 5.1% among Problematic Users. This finding implies a total of 20.5% of Users with Problems. A binary logistic regression analysis shows that age, gender, level of education, and daily cell phone use predict problematic cell phone use. The results, based on multiple criteria, show that such problematic use shares features of recognized addictions, affecting large segments of the population and not only adolescents.

Cell Phone Use Habits Among the Spanish Population: Contribution of Applications to Problematic Use

“…However, the variable that most characterizes users with difficulties is the number of hours of daily use, which also correlates with and significantly predicts problematic use according to the MPPUS across large age groups, as we saw in another article (33). In general, the relationship found between hours of use and problematic use is not new but is, rather, in accordance with other works that indicate that consumption is higher among young people and stabilizes with age (17,36,56,58,70).…”

“…This article, which is part of a broader study, seeks to analyze patterns of cell phone use among the Spanish population, considering the everyday use, abuse, and problematic use that we have elsewhere considered a behavior comparable to addiction (33). Also considered are the personal perceptions of users as well as their lifestyles regarding entertainment and healthy habits, in addition to, specifically, the utilities or applications that have the greatest ability to explain problematic use beyond the overall consideration of the cell phone as a problematic instrument.…”

Comportamiento epidemiológico de la dependencia del teléfono móvil: una perspectiva criminológica

“…The students had to answer each item by choosing only one of five possible options: Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, and Strongly Disagree; this gives us a score that goes from 27 to 135. According to the methodology followed by previous studies [19,21,34] we divided students in 4 categories: casual users, regular or habitual users, users at risk, and problematic users, considering the 15th, 80th and 95th percentiles as cut-off values. The statistical analysis was performed by means of the Mann Whitney U test, and one-way ANOVA.…”

“…In a study conducted in 2311 Asian students, the prevalence of nomophobia was 23.3%, and these individual risk factors were found: school year, being an only child, monthly income, and academic performance [28]. In a study conducted in 1126 individuals aged 16-65 years, the prevalence of nomophobia measured by the MPPUS test was 20.5 [19]. In a review of the literature, its authors report prevalences ranging from 5.35% to 32% in Spain, from 3.1 to 18.8% in Japan, from 4.1 to 33% in South Korea, from 28.7% in the Netherlands, and 33% in Tunisia [29].…”

“…In a recent study, its reliability and internal consistency were analyzed in a sample of 1126 individuals aged 16-65 years, allowing the establishment of four categories of mobile phone use: casual use, regular use, people at risk, and problematic use, with predictive factors such as age, sex, educational level, and time of daily use [19]. This test has also been used in a population of 902 university students in Turkey [20], 1132 students aged 12-18 in Spain, and several countries in Latin America [21], in 412 Swiss teenagers [22], in 1529 adolescents aged 11-18 years in England using the Spanish version [23], in 468 university students in China [24] in 456 adolescents from several European countries, with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.85 and Kendall's Tau of 0.80 [25] and a multinational population of patients from southern Europe, South America, Mesoamerica, India and Pakistan, without finding differences between regions in terms of the psychometric analysis of the reliability of this test [26].…”