The DOI matches its Crossref record; 104 of the 105 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Smartphone Addiction Prevalence and Its Association on Academic Performance, Physical Health, and Mental Well-Being among University Students in Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Saudi Arabia
Open accessAbstract
Smartphone use can lead to smartphone addiction, which is a growing concern worldwide. However, there are limited studies about smartphone addiction and its impacts on university students in Saudi Arabia. This study aims to fill this gap. This is a quantitative study conducted among undergraduate students in Umm Al-Qura University (UQU), Saudi Arabia from May 2019 and February 2021. Study data were collected using both online and hard copy administered surveys. A self-administered questionnaire, Grade point average, Smartphone Addiction Short Version, and Kessler Psychological Distress scales were used to assess the outcomes. A total of 545 undergraduate students, mostly females, aged ≤ 21 years old and lived with large family sizes. More than half owned a smartphone for 5–8 years and the majority used their smartphone on average 6–11 h per day for social networking (82.6%), entertainment (66.2%) and web surfing (59.6%). Most of the participants were smartphone-addicted (67.0%). Logistic regression analysis showed that age ≤ 21, not gainfully employed, small family size and high family income were the main significant socio-demographic predictors of smartphone addiction. Smartphone-addicted participants were more likely to: have lower academic performance (GPA); be physically inactive; have poor sleep; be overweight/obese; have pain in their shoulder (39.2%), eyes (62.2%) and neck (67.7%) and have a serious mental illness (30.7%). This finding has significant implications for decision makers and suggests that smartphone education focusing on the physical and mental health consequences of smartphone addiction among university students can be beneficial.
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“Sus resultados indicaron una asociación estadísticamente significativa entre la adicción al teléfono móvil y un menor rendimiento académico, ya que el 14 % de los estudiantes clasificados como adictos obtuvo un GPA correspondiente a la categoría de 'aprobado' ( ≤ 1.74), en comparación con solo el 3.3 % del grupo no adicto ( χ ² = 14.97, p = 0.002).”
From Relación entre la Adicción a Tecnologías Digitales y el Rendimiento Académico de Estudiantes de Ingeniería Sanitaria en una Universidad Pública de Cajamarca, Perú (2025) · cites this paper as Alotaibi et al. (2022)
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“Alotaibi et al. (2022), en su estudio, identificaron una elevada prevalencia de adicción a los smartphones (67 %) en una muestra de 545 estudiantes universitarios de la Universidad de Umm Al-Qura, Arabia Saudita.”
From Relación entre la Adicción a Tecnologías Digitales y el Rendimiento Académico de Estudiantes de Ingeniería Sanitaria en una Universidad Pública de Cajamarca, Perú (2025) · cites this paper as Alotaibi et al. (2022)
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“Addiction or overuse of a smartphone involves a tendency to check notifications at all times and such behavior patterns can lead to a “reassurance seeking” pathway [2,110,111], that ultimately results in FOMO.”
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“Studies have shown that deterioration in academic performance was one of the most frequently reported adverse outcomes of smartphone addiction among university students in the United States [47] and Italy [48].”
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1 of the 105 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.
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Metadata
- Authors
- Alotaibi, M., Fox, M., Coman, R., Ratan, Z., & Hosseinzadeh, H.
- Affiliations
- Umm al-Qura University (SA)
- University of Wollongong (AU)
- Khulna University of Engineering and Technology (BD)
- Corresponding author
- Hosseinzadeh, Hassan
- Venue
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2022-03-21
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 3710
- ISSN
- 1660-4601 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8954621
- OpenAlex
- W4220836651
- Cited by
- 144
- References
- 105
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 42 · 2024: 34 · 2023: 20 · 2022: 17
- FWCI
- 40.65
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Research Online (University of Wollongong) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Figshare (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Umm Al-Qura University
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Human Factors and Ergonomics › Ergonomics and Musculoskeletal Disorders
- Keywords
- smartphone addiction, university students, academic performance, physical health, psychological well-being, psychological distress, sleep quality, physical inactivity, obesity, musculoskeletal pain, sociodemographic predictors, smartphone use patterns, Saudi Arabia
- MeSH terms
- Smartphone, Academic Performance, Internet Addiction Disorder, Adult, Female, Humans, Male, Mental Health, Saudi Arabia, Students, Universities, Prevalence, Young Adult
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