Mobile Addiction in secondary school students: effects in coexistence

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the patterns of mobile phone use among in secondary school students. Further, we assessed psychological (anxiety, depression) and behavioral correlates and association with school performance. To carry out the study we had 528 students, aged between 12 and 19 years, belonging to five schools, four public and one grant-aided private school. The instruments used were the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), the low self-esteem and the school problems subscales of the MMPI-A Personality Questionnaire, and the Mobile Overuse Scale (COS). The results indicate that a significant percentage of students who abuse cell-phones show anxious and depressive symptoms, and low self-esteem. Of participants, 14.8% obtained scores placing them in a range of medium-high to high for school problems associated to pathological use of the mobile phone. All these results highlight the need to establish interventions to reduce maladjusted behavioural patterns and improve school coexistence.