A Study of Nomophobia and Its Relationship with Screen Time, Anxiety, and Depression Among Medical and Paramedical Students in Central India: A Facility-Based Observational Study

Abstract

Background- This study was conducted to determine the prevalence of nomophobia among university students and to identify psychosocial factors associated with nomophobia.

Methodology- This study was conducted as a cross-sectional study among a sample of 150 medical or paramedical university students in Central India over the study period of 3 months

i.e. from 1st October 2024 to 25th December 2024. History regarding sociodemographic variables and screen time was obtained and documented in proforma. Presence of nomophobia was assessed using Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) whereas assessment of anxiety and depression was done using Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) respectively.

Results- Screen time was more than 4 hours in approximately half of the students (49.3%). We observed nomophobia in 96% students, with mild, moderate and severe nomophobia in 24%, 57.3% and 14.7% participants respectively. Our study found a significant association of higher screen time with nomophobia and depression (p<0.05). We observed a significant association of nomophobia with higher severity of depression (p<0.05). However, no such association was found with anxiety (p>0.05). Our study found a low positive correlation of nomophobia with screen time and depression (r=0.30-0.50; p<0.05), however, nomophobia showed negligible but significant correlation with anxiety (r=0.278; p<0.05).

Conclusions- Nomophobia is common among medical and paramedical students of Central India and is an emerging mental health condition. Higher screentime is significantly associated with nomophobia and presence of depression whereas nomophobia is associated with higher risk of depression in medical and paramedical students.