Prevalence and Associated Factors of Problematic Smartphone Use During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Bangladeshi Study
Hosen I, Al Mamun F, Sikder MT, Abbasi AZ, Zou L, Guo T, Mamun MA
Risk management and healthcare policy · 47 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Cross-sectional study (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
Based on full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2021-09-01 · Risk Manag Healthc Policy · vol. Volume 14 · pp. 3797–3805
- Publisher
- Dove Medical Press
- Cited
- 89 citations · more than 100% of similar papers · 26.4× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 44 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY-NC
- Research areas
- Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Digital Mental Health Interventions · COVID-19 and Mental Health
- Keywords
- smartphone addiction, COVID-19 pandemic, university students, prevalence, associated factors, depression, anxiety, internet use behavior, physical activity, social media use, medical students, Bangladeshi students
7 authors
From BD, PK, CN
- Ismail HosenJahangirnagar University
- Firoj Al‐MamunJahangirnagar University
- Md. Tajuddin SikderJahangirnagar University
- Amir Zaib AbbasiShaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Institute of Science and Technology
- Liye ZouShenzhen University
- Tianyou GuoShenzhen University
Abstract
Background
Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has been increasing hastily in recent decades, and it has become inseparable during the COVID-19 pandemic, especially among the students who are at risk of problematic smartphone use. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the prevalence and associated factors of PSU during the COVID-19 pandemic among the Bangladeshi students.
Methods
A total of 601 Bangladeshi students were recruited through an online-based cross-sectional survey that was conducted between October 7 and November 2, 2020. The survey collected information related to socio-demographics, behavioral health, internet use behaviors, depression, anxiety, and PSU. Independent samples t-test and one-way ANOVA were performed to present the relationship between the studied variables and PSU. Multiple linear regression analysis was also used for investigating the explanatory power of the predictive models for PSU.
Results
Surprisingly, about 86.9% of the students scored to be problematic smartphone users (≥21 out of a total 36 based on the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale). In addition, medical students, engaging in a relationship, performing less physical activity, longer duration of internet use, some sorts of internet use purpose (eg, messaging, watching videos, using social media), depression, and anxiety were significantly associated with higher scores of PSU. After adjusting all the studied variables, the final model explained a 31.3% variance predicting PSU.
Conclusion
The present study is one of the first approaches to assess the prevalence of PSU among the Bangladeshi students during the COVID-19 pandemic, whereas the addiction level was superfluous (and this may be due to more online engagement related to the pandemic). Thus, the study recommended strategies or policies related to the students' risk-reducing and healthy use of smartphones.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC).
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