Exploring the Prevalence and Gender Differences in Nomophobia among Youth

Description

Page: 935-939

Deepshikha Dahal and Sujata Bhau (MIE-SPPU, Institute of Higher Education (Savitribai Phule Pune University, Qatar Campus), Doha, Qatar)

Nomophobia refers to “no mobile phone phobia,” i.e., a fear or anxiety experienced by a person when they do not have access to their mobile phone or are detached from it (Wahyuni, 2022). Research indicates that nomophobia is associated with stress, depression, loneliness, anxiety and various other mental health conditions. Though this phenomenon is widely prevalent nowadays, there is still a scarcity of research in this area among young people. The purpose of this study was to analyze the prevalence of nomophobia, along with examining the gender differences in nomophobia among youth. Data was collected online from 116 participants (females = 61; males = 55) aged 18-29 years with a mean age = 21.25 years. An Online Google form was created consisting of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) by Yildirim and Correia (2015) for data collection via convenience and snowball sampling techniques. Descriptive statistics and Independent Sample t-test were used for data analysis. The findings showed that all respondents experienced some level of nomophobia, wherein 6.90% of participants were mildly, 76.72% were moderately and 16.38% were severely nomophobic in the total sample. Moreover, mild and moderate levels of nomophobia were more common among females than males. On the contrary, more males were represented in the severe nomophobia category. The results also revealed that there were no significant gender differences in nomophobia among youth. This study signifies that nomophobia is a prevalent condition among young people. Suggestions highlighting interventions based on awareness regarding nomophobia are further discussed.