Nature and Science of Sleep (Oct 2021)
Nomophobia is Associated with Insomnia but Not with Age, Sex, BMI, or Mobile Phone Screen Size in Young Adults
Abstract
Haitham Jahrami,1,2 Mona Rashed,1,2 Maha M AlRasheed,3 Nicola Luigi Bragazzi,4 Zahra Saif,1 Omar Alhaj,5 Ahmed S BaHammam,6,7 Michael V Vitiello8 1Ministry of Health, Manama, Bahrain; 2Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine and Medical Sciences, Arabian Gulf University, Manama, Bahrain; 3Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 4Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Laboratory for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (LIAM), York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; 5Department of Nutrition, Faculty of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of Petra, Amman, Jordan; 6Department of Medicine, College of Medicine, University Sleep Disorders Center, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11324, Saudi Arabia; 7The Strategic Technologies Program of the National Plan for Sciences and Technology and Innovation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; 8Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Gerontology & Geriatric Medicine, and Biobehavioral Nursing, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195-6560, USACorrespondence: Haitham JahramiMinistry of Health, Manama, Bahrain, P.O. Box: 12 Tel +973 17286334Fax +973 17270637Email [email protected]: NOMOPHOBIA (NO MObile PHone PhoBIA) or problematic smartphone use is a psychological disorder in which people are afraid of being cut off from their mobile phones. Currently, there has been no direct assessment of mobile phone screen size in the home setting and its effect on nomophobia and related symptoms, such as insomnia. Thus, we investigated the association between nomophobia, insomnia, and mobile phone screen size in a young adult population in Bahrain.Patients and Methods: Using a descriptive, cross-sectional design, we surveyed participants aged 18 to 35 between August and September 2020 using an online questionnaire. Participants completed demographic questions and questions about personal mobile phones, the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). The mobile phone screen size was determined using an open-source online database. Crude and adjusted regression analyses were fitted to examine the associations between the study variables.Results: A total of 549 individuals, 54% females, were included in the final analyses. One hundred and fourteen participants (21%) had severe nomophobia, and 81 (14%) had clinical insomnia. A strong positive pair-wise linear association was observed between NMP-Q and ISI β 0.15, P = 0.001. Age, sex, BMI, and mobile phone screen size showed no association with the NMP-Q.Conclusion: Nomophobia is very prevalent in young adult men and women, and it is closely associated with insomnia, regardless of mobile phone screen size, suggesting that mobile phone screen size should not be used as a proxy for hazardous usage.Keywords: blue light, insomnia, ISI, no mobile phone phobia, problematic smartphone use, sleep problems
