Prevalence of smartphone addiction and associated factors in Brazilian adults

TLDR: The prevalence of smartphone addiction was high in the authors' sample and it was associated with the amount of smartphone use and neck pain, which was linked with strong smartphone addiction in the multivariate analysis.

Abstract: We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of smartphone addiction and associated factors in Brazilian adults. A cross-sectional study was carried out with a sample of 274 Brazilian smartphone users aged 18-59 years. Data were collected between April and July 2018 using three instruments: a sociodemographic/lifestyle questionnaire, the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and the Mobile Phone Addiction Test. The Pearson correlation test and bi- and multivariate analyses were performed to check for potential associations between smartphone addiction and the study variables. The participants used the smartphone for 10.1 ± 4.73 hours a day. In all, 47.8% (n=131) of the participants were mildly addicted and 44.9% (n=123) were moderately addicted. Addiction was associated with the amount of use (r=0.40; p=0.000), age (r=-0.20; p=0.001) and neck pain (OR=1.912; p=0.008). In the multivariate analysis, strong smartphone addiction was associated with the amount of use (OR=1.766; p=0.000) and neck pain (OR=1.172; p=0.037). The prevalence of smartphone addiction was high in our sample and it was associated with the amount of smartphone use and neck pain.