The Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences (FNHS) at Notre Dame University –Shouf Campus (NDU-SC) organized on Tuesday, April 4, 2017 a lecture titled "Smartphone Addiction among NDU Students: Effects on Academic Performance", Anxiety and Depressive Symptoms. The lecture was delivered by Dr. Jocelyne Bou Mosleh, assistant Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at NDU.
Coordinator of the Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Dr. Lara Youssef, delivered the welcome note and then gave the floor to Dr. Bou Mosleh who began her lecture by stating that smartphone addiction is introduced as non-substance addiction, an area that is expanding to encompass not only Internet gaming disorder, but all types of digital addictions.
Dr. Bou Mosleh’s study investigated the relationship between the risk of smartphone addiction and academic performance, anxiety and depressive symptoms. The cross-sectional study has a sample of over 688 NDU students.
The results showed that addictive characteristics associated with smartphone use are highly prevalent among NDU students. Smartphone use at a younger age was found to be significantly associated with lower GPA, excessive smartphone use on a weekday, higher frequency of religious practice and several addictive characteristics. Females and smokers seem to start using a smartphone at a younger age than males and nonsmokers and were more likely to report excessive smartphone use than males.
Excessive smartphone use on a weekday was found to be correlated with higher addiction scores and younger age for start of smartphone use as well as higher depression and anxiety scores which were found to be independently associated with higher addiction score.
The attendees included staff and students who asked questions at the end of the lecture. This gave way to interesting interaction. A certificate of appreciation was offered to Dr. Bou Mosleh for her valuable presentation.