The relationship between problematic cell phone use, eating disorders and social anxiety among university students

  • Ayse Gokce Public Health Specialist. Inonu University Medical Faculty, Department of Public Health
  • Ali Ozer
Keywords: Problematic cell phone use;, student, social anxiety, eating disorder

Abstract

Objective: Problematic cell phone use is common among young age groups which include university students, and may be accompanied by social anxiety and eating disorders. We aimed to examine the relationship between problematic cell phone use, social anxiety and eating disorders among university students.

Methods: The universe of this cross-sectional study consists of 28,669 students receiving education at a Inonu University between October 2017 - November 2017. With a confidence interval of 95% and power of 80%, the sample size was calculated to be 308. The survey forms used in the study included students’ sociodemographic characteristics, data regarding cell phone usage, Problematic Mobile Phone Use Scale, Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale and Eating Attitudes Test. The statistical analyses were conducted using Student t, One Way ANOVA, Spearman Correlation Test and Binomial Logistic Regression Analysis.

Results: The students in the study group demonstrated a 46.1% rate of problematic cell phone use. The students’ Problematic Mobile Phone Use Scale total scores showed a significant correlation with smoking, and daily duration and purpose of cell phone use (p<0.05).

Conclusion: University students demonstrate high rates of problematic cell phone use; in addition, individuals who use cell phones for increased hours or for certain purposes display higher total scores on the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Scale. Students should be educated on limiting problematic cell phone use.

doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.4.4124

How to cite this:
Gokce A, Ozer A. The relationship between problematic cell phone use, eating disorders and social anxiety among university students. Pak J Med Sci. 2021;37(4):1201-1205. doi: https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.4.4124

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Published
2021-05-07
How to Cite
Gokce, A., & Ozer, A. (2021). The relationship between problematic cell phone use, eating disorders and social anxiety among university students. Pakistan Journal of Medical Sciences, 37(4). https://doi.org/10.12669/pjms.37.4.4124
Section
Original Articles