Nomophobia and Its Predictors: The Role of Psychological, Sociodemographic, and Internet Use Factors

Inês Saraiva Ferreira (), Belén Rando, António Esteves, Milena Castro, Inês Xavier and Ana Maria Abreu
Additional contact information
Inês Saraiva Ferreira: Health Sciences Faculty, Universidade Europeia, 1500-210 Lisboa, Portugal
Belén Rando: Centre for Public Administration and Public Policies (CAPP), Institute of Social and Political Sciences, Universidade de Lisboa, 1300-663 Lisboa, Portugal
António Esteves: Health Sciences Faculty, Universidade Europeia, 1500-210 Lisboa, Portugal
Milena Castro: Health Sciences Faculty, Universidade Europeia, 1500-210 Lisboa, Portugal
Inês Xavier: Health Sciences Faculty, Universidade Europeia, 1500-210 Lisboa, Portugal
Ana Maria Abreu: Insight, Piaget Research Center for Ecological Human Development, 2805-059 Almada, Portugal

IJERPH, 2025, vol. 22, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: Nomophobia, or the fear of not being able to use a smartphone and/or the services, has gained increasing attention due to its growing prevalence. This study aimed to examine the prevalence of nomophobia and of potential variables associated with the phenomenon. Additionally, it sought to determine if the average of total nomophobia and the four second-order factors differed across gender. Finally, it analyzed the associations between nomophobia (overall and second-order factors) and psychological variables (self-esteem, loneliness, life satisfaction, and phubbing behavior), internet use, and sociodemographic characteristics. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 306 participants (68.6% women), aged between 18 and 79 years ( M = 38.0, SD = 16.3), using an online questionnaire. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t -tests comparing groups by gender, and bivariate correlations were computed. After, multiple linear regression analyses were performed to obtain parsimonious models with the most relevant variables (psychological variables, internet use, and sociodemographic characteristics) associated with overall nomophobia and its four dimensions. The results were generally consistent with the previous literature. Notably, gender and phubbing behavior were significantly associated with nomophobia. These findings contribute to a better understanding of the nomophobia phenomenon and may inform future interventions aimed at mitigating its potential impact on well-being.

Keywords: nomophobia; phubbing; sociodemographic factors; psychological variables; linear regression analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1495/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/22/10/1495/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:22:y:2025:i:10:p:1495-:d:1759792

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().