Differentiation of stress and depressive symptoms between university students with either addictive or non-addictive smartphone behavior

Abstract

The study aimed to determine the differences in stress and depression levels in students demonstrating behavior of smartphone addiction and students without smartphone addiction. The sample consisted of 460 university students nationwide in Thailand. The instruments used in the data collection were a demographic form, SAS-VS-T, SPST-20, and CES-D and the reliabilities were 0.958, 0.972, and 0.975, respectively. Data were analyzed and the stress and depression levels were compared in the participants based on independent t-test. According to the findings, it was shown that the males and females with addictive smartphone behavior spent more money and time on a smartphone than the males and females without addictive smartphone behavior. Furthermore, the stress and depression scores in the males and females with addictive smartphone behavior were statistically higher than the other group (t=16.223, P<0.000 vs. t=10.307, P<0.000).

Keywords

• addictive smartphone behavior
• depression
• stress
• university student