Screen Addiction, Sleep Quality and Prevalence of Anxiety Symptoms among Undergraduate University Students of Pakistan: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Abstract

Background: Nowadays, using a smartphone is a daily routine in students' academic and social life at universities. But spending too much time with one's smartphone can negatively impact their sleep quality and mental health. Very few studies have been conducted or we are aware of studies which have been conducted but there is very limited information regarding relationship between smartphone addiction, sleep quality and anxiety symptoms among undergraduate university students in Pakistan.

Methodology: This study was of quantitative nature with analytical approach and Cross-sectional design, the researcher conducted the study using 300 students of undergraduate university of public and private universities of Pakistan age ranged from 18-25 years. The non-probability convenience sampling technique was used to select the participants. A socio-demographic information section, the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short version (SAS-SV), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7) were used to gather data. IBM SPSS 27.0 was used to analyze data. The descriptive statistics, Chi square, Spearman correlation and multiple linear regression was conducted.

Results: High smartphone addiction was correlated with 33.0% of respondents and poor sleep quality among 71.7% of respondents. The percentage of participants who exhibited moderate and mild anxiety symptoms were 24.0% and 19.3% respectively. Better sleep quality was positively corelated with symptoms of anxiety (ρ = 0.171; p = 0.003), and smartphone addiction was positively associated with anxiety symptoms (ρ = 0.300; p < 0.001). The highest independent predictor of the anxiety symptoms was daily screen time.

Conclusions: The results conclude that with the strive for social networking and smart phones, there is a high prevalence of smartphone addiction, poor sleep quality and anxiety symptomatology among under-graduate university students in Pakistan. The results of this study emphasize the adverse effects of poor digital habits, lack of sleep hygiene and inadequate mental health services at universities and call for healthier digital practices, better sleep habits, and better mental health support at universities.