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. 2023 Sep 12;13(9):1762-1775.
doi: 10.3390/ejihpe13090128.

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

Nasrin Abdoli  1 , Dena Sadeghi-Bahmani  2   3 , Nader Salari  4   5 , Mehdi Khodamoradi  1 , Vahid Farnia  1 , Somayeh Jahangiri  1 , Annette Beatrix Brühl  6 , Kenneth M Dürsteler  7   8 , Zeno Stanga  9 , Serge Brand  1   3   6   10   11   12
Affiliations

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

Nasrin Abdoli et al. Eur J Investig Health Psychol Educ. .

Abstract

Background: Smart phone use has become a part of people's everyday life. However, when the lack of using the smart phone to establish and maintain electronic communication is related to psychological distress, such a behavior may be considered a modern-age phobia, or nomophobia (no mobile phone phobia). The aims of the present study were to investigate among a sample of young adults the associations between scores for nomophobia and symptoms of depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Methods: A total of 537 students (mean age: 25.52 years; 42.3% females) participated in the study. They completed a booklet of self-rating questionnaires covering sociodemographic information and symptoms of nomophobia, depression, anxiety, stress, insomnia, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Results: Higher scores for nomophobia were associated with higher scores for depression, anxiety, and stress, but not with scores for insomnia and obsessive-compulsive disorders. The regression model confirmed that symptoms of anxiety predicted nomophobia.

Conclusions: The present results support the assumption that nomophobia appears to be a mood disturbance related to stronger associations with symptoms of anxiety and, to a lesser extent, with symptoms of depression and stress. By contrast, nomophobia appeared to be unrelated to insomnia and symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorders.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; nomophobia; obsessive–compulsive disorders; stress; young adults.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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