Investigation of personality and psychosocial antecedents of nomophobia among university students

Abstract

Nomophobia has been reported as a prevalence among especially emerging adults by a wide variety of studies. The current study aims to investigate the personality and psychosocial antecedents of nomophobia. Specifically, the mediating roles of perceived stress and ostracism in the association of loneliness and nomophobia were investigated with the inclusion of narcissism through structural equation modeling. The study was conducted with the participation of 602 university students. The findings first indicated that loneliness is an indirect predictor of nomophobia with the mediation of perceived stress. It was also revealed that narcissism is a significant predictor of nomophobia; but not of its psychosocial antecedents. It was concluded that as university students experience more feelings of loneliness, they perceive more stress and demonstrate more nomophobic behaviors. Considering the influence of narcissism on nomophobia among university students, further research is suggested on the possible mediators and moderators in this relationship.