Gender differences in the relationship between problematic internet use and nomophobia
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Gender differences in the relationship between problematic internet use and nomophobia Ibrahim Arpaci 1 Accepted: 29 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Nomophobia is considered as the “disorder of modern world” and defined as “fear of being without access to a mobile phone.” This study investigated gender differences in the relationship between problematic Internet use and nomophobia. Structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed to assess the relationship between nomophobia and four dimensions of the problematic Internet use, including diminished impulse control, loneliness/depression, social comfort, and distraction. The study used the Online Cognition Scale (OCS) and Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) to collect data from 490 undergraduate students. Results indicated that loneliness/depression, distraction, and diminished impulse control were significantly related to nomophobia. However, there was not a significant relationship between social comfort and nomophobia. Further, multi group analysis results suggested notable gender differences in the relationship between problematic Internet use and nomophobia. The results for women indicated that loneliness/depression, diminished-impulse control, and distraction have a positive and significant relationship with nomophobia. Whereas only loneliness/depression and distraction were found to be significantly related to nomophobia among men. The results indicated a statistically significant difference in nomophobia and problematic Internet use between women and men subjects, where women subjects scored higher than the men. Keywords Nomophobia . Gender differences . Problematic internet use . Loneliness . Depression
Introduction The term nomophobia is an acronym for “no mobile phone phobia” and it refers to “the fear of not being able to communicate, losing the connectedness that smartphones allow, not being able to access information through smartphones, and giving up the convenience that smartphones provide” (Yildirim & Correia, 2015, p. 136). Nomophobia is considered as the “disorder of modern world” (King et al., 2013). Therefore, it is proposed to be listed as a “situational phobia” under “specific phobia” identified in DSM-V (Bragazzi & Del Puente, 2014). This term has been used to describe “the feelings of discomfort or anxiety experienced by individuals when they are unable to use their mobile phones or utilize the affordances these devices provide” (King et al., 2013, p. 141).
* Ibrahim Arpaci [email protected] 1
Department of Computer Education and Instructional Technology, Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University, Tokat, Turkey
A systematic review of the existing literature on nomophobia was conducted to the reveal research gap. The review of the literature on nomophobia (covered by the Scopus database) showed that the first paper appeared in 2010 and the number of publications has been increasing since then. There were only eight publications on this topic between 2010 and 2016. However, the n
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