The relationship between addiction to mobile phone and sense of loneliness among students of medical sciences in Kermanshah, Iran

OBJECTIVE: Addiction to mobile phone is one of the negative consequences of excessive use of this device. This disorder may also be related to individuals’ loneliness and may reduce or increase the sense of loneliness. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the relationship between addiction to mobile phone and sense of loneliness among medical sciences students. RESULTS: In this descriptive-analytical study, 439 students entered the study by stratified random sampling. The study tool was the mobile phone addiction and SELSA’s sense of loneliness questionnaires. The average score of mobile phone addiction in boys and girls was 73.77 ± 11.48 and 74.64 ± 12.28 from 100, respectively. There was no significant difference between them. According to the rating of mobile phone addiction, 17.8% of the students were in the range of moderate dependency and 10.9% of them were in the range of extreme dependency. Also, 71.3% of the students were identified as mobile phone addicts. The average score of sense of loneliness in boys and girls was 43.22 ± 5.16 and 42.82 ± 5.30, out of 105, respectively. There was no significant difference between them. There was a significant and negative correlation between the scores of mobile phone addiction and sense of loneliness.