Mental health outcomes and socio-demographics as determinants of students' academic performance and smartphone addiction at the University of Cape Coast

Abstract

Abstract Objectives Smartphone addiction is a significant mental health concern that affects students’ academic performance, with attendant consequences on their psychological well-being, and yet only a handful of empirical research has been conducted on this area in Sub-Saharan Africa. The study, therefore, assessed mental health outcomes and socio-demographics as determinants of students' academic performance and smartphone addiction among students. Methods Employing a descriptive and analytical cross-sectional study design, purposive sampling was used to recruit 227 School of Nursing and Midwifery students. The study variables were measured with the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale (DASS-21) and Smartphone Addiction Scale. Results The results showed that 89 (39.2%) male and 138 (60.8%) female nursing students participated in the study. Employing descriptive statistics, we found a 43.6% prevalence of smartphone addiction. Pearson correlations showed significant associations between mental health outcomes and smartphone addiction. Utilising multi-linear regressions, socio-demographic factors and mental health outcomes did not jointly predict smartphone addiction, whereas mental health outcomes independently predicted smartphone addiction. Hierarchical regressions revealed that student’s socio-demographics and mental health outcomes significantly influenced their academic performance, particularly for variables such as ‘gender’, ‘age’, ‘level of study’ and ‘mental health outcomes’. Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) revealed that age, level of study, marital status and mental health outcomes reported main and interaction effects on academic performance and smartphone addiction. Conclusion The study observed that smartphone addiction is remarkably high among students and should be addressed, while concerted efforts should be made to address depression, anxiety and stress among students, which pushes them into addictive behaviours. Recommendations for clinicians, educationists, social media experts and information technology professionals were drawn for positive coping, adjustment, and well-being.