Smartphone Addiction and Associated Factors among Postgraduate Students in an Arabic Sample: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background With the wide variety of convenient functionalities, smartphones have become an integral part of society, and in such a small period. It is imperative to examine the adverse effect and consequences of such highly impactful technologies on our individual lives and society as a whole. Like smartphone addiction, behavioral addictions have been established to accompany social, physical, and mental health issues. In this article, we will be investigating the prevalence of smartphone addiction among postgraduate students as well as assessing its relationship to social demographics, depression, ADHD, and nicotine dependence. Objectives · The prevalence of smartphone addiction among middle eastern postgraduate students. · Ascertain the associated factors of smartphone addiction. · Measure the incidence of MDD, ADHD, insomnia, and nicotine addiction among postgraduate students with smartphone addiction. Methods A Cross-sectional online survey, a self-questionnaire is divided into six sections; 1st section is Socio-demographic (age, gender, academic year). 2nd section is the Arabic-validated versions of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) 3rd section is Patient Health Questionnaire for Depression (PHQ9). 4 th is Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS) to assess the quality of sleep. 5th concerns nicotine dependence and uses the Fagerstrom Test for Cigarette Dependence Questionnaire (FTCd). The 6th section is the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale (ASRS-v1.1) Results The total number of participants in this study is 506, 158 (31.23%) males, and 348 (68.77%) females. According to the Smartphone Addiction Scale, 51.0% of the participants appear to be high smartphone users, while 49.0% are low smartphone users. The PHQ-9 questionnaire for depression showed a significant association between high smartphone use and MDD (p=0.001). 41.5% of smokers are addicted to smartphones (p=0.039). Smartphone addicts have about two times the risk of developing insomnia (OR= 2.113) (P= 0.013). Those who were addicted to smartphone use had a significant risk of developing ADHD symptoms (OR =2.712) (P <0.001). Conclusion Confirming several studies, we found a positive association between Insomnia, Depression, Adult ADHD, and Smartphone addiction. Therefore, we encourage the scientific community to study the impacts of smartphone addiction and the mental health of post-graduate students.