Prevalence of nomophobia among undergraduate students from Sagaing University of Education
Wai Wai Than & Pyae Wai Shan
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
Author information & Contribution
Wai Wai Than. Corresponding author. Lecturer, Department of Educational Psychology, Sagaing University of Education
Pyae Wai Shan. Senior Teacher, Basic Education High School (Warr Khwa), Mahlaing
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Funding
This work was not supported by any funding.
Institutional Review Board Statement
AI Declaration
Notes
Acknowledgement
References
Adnan. M., & Gezgin, D. M. (2016). A modern phobia: Prevalence of nomophobia among college students. Egitim Bilimleri Fakultesi Dergisi, 49 (1), 141-152. https://doi.org/10.1501/Egifak_0000001378
Arora, A., & Chakraborty, P. (2020). Diagnosis, prevalence and effects of nomophobia _ A review. Psychiatry Research, 288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psyshres.2020.112975
Ayer, D., Gerceker, G. O., Ozdemir, E. Z., & Bektas, M. (2018). The Effect of Problematic Internet Use, Social Appearance Anxiety and Social Media Use on Nursing Students’ Nomophobia Levels. Comput Inform Nurs, 36 (12), 589-595. https://doi.org/10.1097/CIN.0000000000000458
Bandura, A. (1982). The assessment and predictive generality of self-percepts of efficacy. Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry, 13(3), 195–199. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7916(82)90004-0
Bandura, A. (1986). Social foundations of thought and action: A social cognitive theory. Prentice Hall.
Bianchi, A., & Phillips, J. G. (2005). Psychological predictors of problem mobile phone use. Cyber Psychology & Behavior, 8(1), 39-51. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2005.8.39
Bragazzi, N. L., & Puente, G. D. (2014). A proposal for including nomophobia in the new DSM-V. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 7, 155–160. https://doi.org/10.2147/PRBM.S41386
Britannica, (2019). Phobia. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/science/phobia
Digital Myanmar. (2019). Data report – global digital insights. https://www. slideshare.net/mobile/DataReport/digital-2019-myanmar-january2019-v01
Dixit, S., Shukla, H., Bhagwat, A., Bindal, A., Goyal, A., Zaidi, A. K., & Shrivastava, A. (2010). A study to evaluate mobile phone dependence among students of a medical college and associated hospital of central India. Indian Journal of Community Medicine, 35(2), 339–341. https://doi.org/10.4103/0970-0218.66878
Ei, E. S. A. (2019). Facebook addiction and loneliness of university students from Sagaing district. [Unpublished Master’s thesis, Sagaing University of Education].
Elhai, J. D., Levine, J. C., O’Brien, K. D., & Armour, C. (2018). Distress tolerance and mindfulness mediate relations between depression and anxiety sensitivity with problematic smartphone use. Computers in Human Behavior, 84, 477–484. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2018.03.026
Gezgin, D. M., Cakir O., & Yildirim, S. (2018). The relationship between levels of nomophobia prevalence and internet addiction among high school students: The factors influencing Nomophobia. International Journal of Research in Education and Science (IJRES), 4(1), 215-225. https://doi.org/10.21890/ijres.383153
Gezgin, D. M., Sumuer, E., Arslan, O., & Yildirim, S. (2017). Nomophobia Prevalence among Pre-service Teachers: A Case of Trakya University. Trakya University Journal of Education Faculty, 7.1, 86-95. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 312592772
Goncalves, S., Dlas, P. C., & Correia, A. (2020). Nomophobia and Lifestyle: Smartphone Use and its Relationship to Psychopathologies. Computers in Human Behavior Reports. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2020.100025
Hooper, D., Coughlan, J., & Mullen, M. R. (2008). Structural Equation Modelling: Guidelines for Determining Model Fit. The Electronic Journal of Business Research Methods, 6, 53-60. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 254742561
Jesse, G. R. (2015). Smartphone and App Usage Among College Students: Using Smartphones Effectively for Social and Educational Needs [Conference session]. Conference on Information Systems and Computing Education, Wilmington, North Carolina USA. http://proc.iscap.info/2015/pdf/3424.pdf
Kara, M. Baytemir, K., & Inceman-Kara, F. (2019). Duration of daily smartphone usage as an antecedent of nomophobia: exploring multiple mediation of loneliness and anxiety, Behaviour & Information Technology, https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2019. 1673485
Kemp, S. (2019). Digital 2019: Global internet use accelerates. We Are Social. https://wearesocial.com/blog/2019/01/digital-2019-global-internet-use-accelerates
Kim, J., & Haridakis, P. M. (2009). The role of internet user characteristics and motives in explaining three dimensions of internet addiction. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 14, 988-1015. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1083-6101.2009.01478.x
King, A. L. S., Valença, A. M., Silva, A. C. O., Baczynski, T., Carvalho, M. R., & Nardi, A. E. (2013). Nomophobia: Dependency on virtual environments or social phobia. Computers in Human Behavior, 29(1), 140-144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2012.07.025
Konok V., Gigler D., Bereczky B.M., & Miklosi, A. (2016). Humans’ attachment to their mobile phones and its relationship with interpersonal attachment style. Computers in Human Behavior, 61, 537-547. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2016.03.062
LaRose, R., & Eastin, M. (2004). A social cognitive explanation of internet uses and gratifications: Toward a new model of media attendance. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 48, 358-377. http://doi.org/10.1207/s15506878jobem48032
LaRose, R., Lin, C. A., & Eastin, M. S. (2003). Unregulated Internet usage: Addiction, habit, or deficient self-regulation? Media Psychology, 5 (3), 225-253. https://doi.org/10.1207/S1532785XMEP0503_01
Lee, Y. K., Chang, C. T., Lin, Y., Cheng, Z. H. (2014). The dark side of smartphone usage: Psychological traits, compulsive behavior, technostress. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 373- 383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.047
Lemish, D. & Cohen, A. A. (2005). On the gendered nature of mobile phone culture in Israel. Sex Roles, 52, 511–521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-005-3717-7
Leung, L., & Wei, R. (2000). More than just talk on the move: Uses and gratifications of the cellular phone. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 77(2), 308-320. https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900007700206
Mallya, N. V., Kumar, D. R. S., & Mashal, S., (2018). A study to evaluate the behavioral dimensions of “nomophobia” and attitude toward smartphone usage among medical students in Bengaluru. National Journal of Physiology, Pharmacy and Pharmacology, 8(11), 1553-1557. https://doi.org/10.5455/njpp.2018.8.082760309 2018
Mills, G. E., & Gay, L. R. (2016). Educational Research: Competencies for Analysis and Applications. Pearson Education.
Nay, Z. A. (2019). The Effect of Game Addiction on Aggressive Behaviour Among University Students in Sagaing District. [Master’s thesis, Sagaing University of Education].
Odzemir, B., Cakir, O., & Hussain, I. (2018). Prevalence of nomophobia among university students: A comparative study of Pakistani and Turkish Undergraduate Students. Eurasla Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 14(4), 1519-1532. https://doi.org/10.29333/ejmste/84839
Oulasvirta, A., Rattenbury, T., Ma, L., & Raita, E. (2012). Habits make smartphone use more pervasive. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 16(1), 105-114. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00779-011-0412-2
Rahayuningrum, D. C., & Sary, A. N. (2018). Study of Youth Anxiety Levels no-mobile-phone (Nomophobia) in Padang City. Neuroscience and Cyberpsychology, 11-16. https://doi.org/10.32698/25252
Sanchez-Martinez, M., & Oetro, A. (2009). Factors associated with cell phone use in adolescents in the community of Madrid (Spain). Cyberpsychology & Behavior, 10, 424-435. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2008.0164
Sezer, B., & Atilgan, S. B. C. (2019). The dark side of smartphone usage (Nomophobia): Do we need to worry about it? Tıp Eğitimi Dünyası, 17 (54), 30-43. https://doi.org/10.25282/ted.513988
Theint, T. H. (2019). Internet Addiction and Stress of University Students in Sagaing District. [Master’s thesis, Sagaing University of Education].
Toda, M., Monden, K., Kubo, K., & Morimoto, K. (2006). Mobile phone dependence and health-related lifestyle of university students. Social Behavior and Personality: An international journal, 34(10), 1277-1284. https://doi.org/10.2224/ sbp.2006.34.10.1277
Vicent, J. (2006). Emotional attachment and mobile phones. Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 19, 39-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12130-006-1013-7
Vincent, J., Haddon, L., & Hamill, L. (2005). The influence of mobile phone users on the design of 3G products and services. Journal of the Communication Network, 4, 69-73.
Walsh, S. P., & White, K. M. (2007). Me, my mobile, and I: The role of self- and prototypical identity influences in the prediction of mobile phone behavior. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(10), 2405–2434. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2007.00264.x
Wei, R. (2008). Motivations for using the mobile phone for mass communications and entertainment. Telematics and Informatics, 25(1), 36-46. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2006.03.001
Yasan, A. N., & Yildirim, S. (2018). Nomophobia among undergraduate students and its link to mobile learning [Conference Session]. 10th International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies, Palma, Mallorca, Spain. https://doi.org/10.21125/edulearn.2018.0794
Yildirim, C. (2014). Exploring the dimensions of Nomophobia: Developing and validating a Questionnaire using mixed methods research [Master’s thesis, Iowa State University]. Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/etd/14005
Yildirim, C., & Correia, A. P. (2015). Exploring the dimensions of nomophobia: Development and validation of a self-reported questionnaire. Computers in Human Behavior, 49, 130-137. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2015.02.059
Yildirim, C., Sumuer, E., Adnan, M., & Yildirim, S. (2016). A growing fear: Prevalence of nomophobia among Turkish college students. Information Development, 32(5), 1322-1331. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266666915599025
Yildiz-Durak, H. (2018). Modeling of variables related to problematic internet usage and problematic social media usage in adolescents. Current Psychology. 2018, 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9840-8
Yogurtcu, D. D. (2018). The Relationship between Five Factor Personality Traits and Nomophobia Levels among University Students [Master’s thesis, Yeditepe University Institute of Educational Sciences].
Youn, S. Y. (2016). Connecting through smartphones: Cognitive, social, emotional motivations, and the experience of value perceptions (Publication No. 732) [Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University]. Open Access Dissertations. . https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/
Cite this article:
Wai Wai Than & Pyae Wai Shan (2021). Prevalence of nomophobia among undergraduate students from Sagaing University of Education. International Review of Social Sciences Research, 1(1), 54-76. https://doi.org/10.53378/346475
License:
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) International License.
Find this article in:
Most read articles
- Social media usage and the academic performance of Filipino junior high school students
- Exploring the factors influencing commuters’ satisfaction and the use of public utility buses in Quezon City, Philippines
- A narrative exploration of romantic experiences and ideal relationship standards among Filipino Gen Z
- Students’ exposure to social media and their radical involvement on the societal issues in the Philippines
- ChatGPT integration significantly boosts personalized learning outcomes: A Philippine study
- Tiktok made me book it: The impact of Tiktok on tourism destination selection of generation Z and millennials in Manila
- Senior high school students’ awareness and literacy on computer software applications
- Self-perception of ABM students towards their academic, social and emotional college preparedness
- Enhancing financial literacy among Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program beneficiaries
- Emotional intelligence and leadership efficacy of university student leaders