Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Correlation Coefficients between Nomophobia and Anxiety, Smartphone Addiction, and Insomnia Symptoms

Abstract

Nomophobia is an emerging phenomenon in the 21st century. Consequently, it results in various health problems, both physical and psychological. The following systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to establish the relationship between nomophobia with anxiety, smartphone addiction, and insomnia. To identify the relevant studies, we searched through several databases. Out of the 1523 studies identified, 16 studies met the inclusion criteria. After conducting the statistical analysis, the results revealed that anxiety r = 0.31 (95% CI: 0.25 to 0.38), smartphone addiction r = 0.39 (95% CI: 0.04 to 0.75), and insomnia r = 0.56 (95% CI: 0.38 to 0.75) are positively associated with nomophobia. Mobile phone usage has become inevitable, even for individuals who use it to a lesser degree than others, to perform simple tasks, such as communicating with others or for educational purposes. It is crucial to raise awareness about the consequences of overusing these devices, including the physical and psychological complications in both the short and long terms.

Nomophobia (No Mobile Phone Phobia) and Psychological Health Issues among Young Adult Students

“…First, in accordance with previous studies, higher scores for nomophobia were associated with higher scores for depression [ 8 ], anxiety [ 8 , 27 ], and stress [ 8 , 9 ]. Thus, the present data confirm what is known in this specific field of research, though we expand upon previous research in that we assessed all dimensions of depression, anxiety, and stress concomitantly, while this was not the case for previous studies in the field.…”

“…In this context, nomophobia (no mobile phone phobia) is considered a modern age-specific anxiety for not being able to communicate, for losing connectedness, for not being able to access information, and for giving up convenience [ 1 ]. The literature is not consistent as regards the wording and the underlying theoretical psychological concepts, in that some are talking about nomophobia [ 1 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 ], while some claim that excessive smart phone use is considered a smart phone addiction [ 5 , 9 , 10 , 12 , 29 , 30 ] or problematic or excessive smart phone use [ 6 , 11 , 31 , 32 ]. Further, to make the point in the case, nomophobia and excessive smart phone use were associated with higher scores for emotional loneliness and insomnia among a sample of 773 students (mean age: 25.95 years; 59.6% females) [ 29 ].…”

“…Daraj et al (2023) [ 27 ] summarized data from 16 studies among (young) adults. Higher scores for nomophobia were associated with higher scores for anxiety and smart phone addiction.…”

“…To summarize the results of the meta-analyses and systematic reviews, the following findings are impressive: Since 2020, six meta-analyses and systematic reviews were published [ 8 , 9 , 23 , 24 , 27 , 28 ], reporting prevalence rates of nomophobia ranging from 1% to 87% of participants with severe nomophobia (e.g., [ 24 ]), summarizing data from 16 [ 9 , 27 ], 28 [ 23 ], 40 [ 8 ], 52 [ 28 ], and 108 studies [ 24 ], using nomophobia and smart phone addiction interchangeably [ 9 ], and associating higher scores for nomophobia with higher scores for symptoms of depression [ 8 ], anxiety [ 8 , 27 ], stress [ 8 , 9 ], and sleep disturbances [ 28 ] and lower scores for self-esteem and social support [ 9 ].…”

“…Two hypotheses and two research questions were formulated. First, based on previous results, we expected that higher scores for nomophobia would be associated with higher scores for depression [ 8 ], anxiety [ 8 , 27 ], stress [ 8 , 9 ], and sleep disturbances [ 27 ]. Further, following the transdiagnostic approach [ 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 ] and the observation that symptoms of nomophobia might be associated with obsessive–compulsive behavior [ 38 ], we expected that symptoms of nomophobia would be associated with symptoms of obsessive–compulsive disorders.…”