Abstract
This study investigated the prevalence of nomophobia among undergraduate students in Sagaing University of Education. Moreover, it also investigated the differences in the nomophobia by gender and smartphone usage behaviors such as duration of daily smartphone checking time, most frequently used application type and duration of daily social media usage. The quantitative research design and stratified random sampling method were used. The sample comprised 1000 undergraduate students distributed as 496 females and 504 males from all undergraduate classes. The nomophobia questionnaire (NMP-Q) by Yildirim & Correia (2015) was used. The results revealed that majority of the students in Sagaing University of Education show moderate or severe level of nomophobia. Moreover, they suffered from the highest level of anxiety for not being able to communicate with important others and access information when they cannot reach mobile phones. Furthermore, there were significant differences in nomophobia by duration of daily smartphone checking time, most frequently used smartphone application type and duration of daily social media usage but no significant differences by gender. This study may help undergraduate students realize and understand their level of anxiety when they are unable to use their mobile phones and be aware of the factors causing nomophobia. Future research may explore factors which can control the prevalence of nomophobia for better mental health of the university students.
Keywords: phobia, nomophobia, smartphone use, smartphone usage behaviours
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