Nomophobia and its relationship with depression, anxiety, and quality of life in adolescents

BACKGROUND: Nomophobia is a portmanteau for “no mobile phone” and phobia or mobile phone addiction. Nomophobia refers to discomfort, anxiety, nervousness, or anguish caused by being out of contact with a mobile phone. There is a paucity of literature from India on this emerging mental health condition. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of nomophobia and its relationship with depression, anxiety, and quality of life among adolescent students. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in 1386 high school students aged between 14 and 17 years. The Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was used to assess nomophobia. Beck’s Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck’s Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Short Form-36 (SF-36) were used to measure depression, anxiety, and quality of life, respectively. RESULTS: Out of 1386 adolescents, 569 (41.05%), 303 (21.86%), and 82 (5.1%) have mild, moderate, and severe nomophobia, respectively. There were significantly more males with nomophobia. There was a statistically significant relationship between NMP-Q score and BDI, BAI, and SF-36 scores. A significant positive correlation was observed between NMP-Q score and scores on BDI and BAI and a significant negative correlation between SF-36 score. CONCLUSION: The results of the study indicate that nomophobia is an emerging mental health condition, especially in male adolescents. Nomophobia is significantly associated with depression, anxiety, and poor quality of life. Multicentric studies are needed to better understand this disorder.