IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i24p10255-d458862.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Problematic Smartphone Use in Spanish and Italian University Students

Author

Listed:
  • Rosabel Roig-Vila

    (Department of General Didactic and Specific Training, Faculty of Education, University of Alicante, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain)

  • Paz Prendes-Espinosa

    (Department of Didactic and School Organization, Faculty of Education, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain)

  • Mayra Urrea-Solano

    (Department of General Didactic and Specific Training, Faculty of Education, University of Alicante, 03690 San Vicente del Raspeig, Spain)

Abstract

Sustainable education requires the proper usage of technological devices. Among these is the smartphone, which is used by millions of young people around the world in today’s society. The objective of this study was to understand the smartphone usage profile of Spanish and Italian university students. It also aimed to identify possible problematic uses, and the differences in smartphone use (or abuse) between the participating subjects. The study was descriptive and comparative, with the intentional sampling of N = 1412 subjects studying at the education faculties of the University of Alicante (UA) and the Suor Orsola Benincasa University (UNISOB). A previously-validated questionnaire with 27 items was employed during the 2019–20 academic year. The data was analysed using the SPSS 25 programme. Descriptive and inferential analyses were carried out. The results obtained after the analysis of the data indicated that, of the four possible user types—occasional, habitual, at risk, and problematic—more than half of the sample identified themselves as habitual users. It can be concluded that there are significant differences between the universities: the UA students exhibited more problematic use than the UNISOB students. It is therefore necessary to prepare training programmes that are designed to avert problematic behaviours related to smartphone use.

Suggested Citation

  • Rosabel Roig-Vila & Paz Prendes-Espinosa & Mayra Urrea-Solano, 2020. "Problematic Smartphone Use in Spanish and Italian University Students," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-18, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:24:p:10255-:d:458862
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10255/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/24/10255/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Carmen Romero-García & Olga Buzón-García & Patricia de Paz-Lugo, 2020. "Improving Future Teachers’ Digital Competence Using Active Methodologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-15, September.
    2. Julio Cabero-Almenara & Juan-Jesús Gutiérrez-Castillo & Antonio Palacios-Rodríguez & Julio Barroso-Osuna, 2020. "Development of the Teacher Digital Competence Validation of DigCompEdu Check-In Questionnaire in the University Context of Andalusia (Spain)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Ivar Krumpal, 2013. "Determinants of social desirability bias in sensitive surveys: a literature review," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 2025-2047, June.
    4. Misagh Faezipour & Miad Faezipour, 2020. "Sustainable Smartphone-Based Healthcare Systems: A Systems Engineering Approach to Assess the Efficacy of Respiratory Monitoring Apps," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(12), pages 1-18, June.
    5. Rosalía Romero-Tena & Raquel Barragán-Sánchez & Carmen Llorente-Cejudo & Antonio Palacios-Rodríguez, 2020. "The Challenge of Initial Training for Early Childhood Teachers. A Cross Sectional Study of Their Digital Competences," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-17, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Caldevilla-Domínguez & Almudena Barrientos-Báez & Graciela Padilla-Castillo, 2021. "Twitter as a Tool for Citizen Education and Sustainable Cities after COVID-19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Camilo A. Velandia Rodriguez & Andres F. Mena-Guacas & Sergio Tobón & Eloy López-Meneses, 2022. "Digital Teacher Competence Frameworks Evolution and Their Use in Ibero-America up to the Year the COVID-19 Pandemic Began: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Naiara Bilbao & Urtza Garay & Ainara Romero & Arantzazu López de la Serna, 2021. "The European Competency and the Teaching for Understanding Frameworks: Creating Synergies in the Context of Initial Teacher Training in Higher Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-14, February.
    3. Rosa Pilar Esteve-Faubel & Alba Oller-Benitez & María Pilar Aparicio-Flores, 2020. "Perceptions of Future Teachers of Audiovisual Education and Communication. Challenges in Training for a Sustainable Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Michael T Gastner & Károly Takács & Máté Gulyás & Zsuzsanna Szvetelszky & Beáta Oborny, 2019. "The impact of hypocrisy on opinion formation: A dynamic model," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 14(6), pages 1-21, June.
    5. Babette Bühler & Katja Möhring & Andreas P. Weiland, 2022. "Assessing dissimilarity of employment history information from survey and administrative data using sequence analysis techniques," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4747-4774, December.
    6. Sjöstedt, Martin & Sundström, Aksel & Jagers, Sverker C. & Ntuli, Herbert, 2022. "Governance through community policing: What makes citizens report poaching of wildlife to state officials?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    7. Tricia Koroknay†Palicz & Joao Montalvao, 2020. "Sex, Lies, and Surveys: The Role of Interviewer Characteristics," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(4), pages 3313-3324.
    8. Burke, Mary A. & Carman, Katherine G., 2017. "You can be too thin (but not too tall): Social desirability bias in self-reports of weight and height," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 198-222.
    9. Shinichi Kitano, 2021. "Estimation of Determinants of Farmland Abandonment and Its Data Problems," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, June.
    10. Alla Mostepaniuk & Turgay Akalin & Mohammad Reza Parish, 2023. "Practices Pursuing the Sustainability of A Healthcare Organization: A Systematic Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    11. Burgstaller, Lilith & Feld, Lars P. & Pfeil, Katharina, 2022. "Working in the shadow: Survey techniques for measuring and explaining undeclared work," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 661-671.
    12. Seres, Gyula & Balleyer, Anna Helen & Cerutti, Nicola & Danilov, Anastasia & Friedrichsen, Jana & Liu, Yiming & Süer, Müge, 2021. "Face masks increase compliance with physical distancing recommendations during the COVID-19 pandemic," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(2), pages 139-158.
    13. Yuning Wu & Ivan Y. Sun & Rong Hu, 2021. "Cooperation with Police in China: Surveillance Cameras, Neighborhood Efficacy and Policing," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 102(1), pages 433-453, January.
    14. Egon Dejonckheere & Brock Bastian, 2021. "Perceiving Social Pressure not to Feel Negative is Linked to a More Negative Self-concept," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 667-679, February.
    15. Martin Korndörfer & Boris Egloff & Stefan C. Schmukle, 2015. "A Large Scale Test of the Effect of Social Class on Prosocial Behavior," Working Papers 1601, Gutenberg School of Management and Economics, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz.
    16. Chadi, Adrian, 2013. "Third Person Effects in Interview Responses on Life Satisfaction," Schmollers Jahrbuch : Journal of Applied Social Science Studies / Zeitschrift für Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, vol. 133(2), pages 323-333.
    17. Michela Accerenzi & Pablo Brañas-Garza & Diego Jorrat, 2022. "Parents’ knowledge and predictions about the age of menarche: Experimental evidence from Honduras," Working Papers 132, Red Nacional de Investigadores en Economía (RedNIE).
    18. Saba Pourreza & Misagh Faezipour & Miad Faezipour, 2022. "Eye-SCOR: A Supply Chain Operations Reference-Based Framework for Smart Eye Status Monitoring Using System Dynamics Modeling," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    19. Guo, Shiau-Ling, 2023. "The governance implication of the geographic concentration of franchise activities for franchise relationships," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    20. Victoire Girard, 2021. "Stabbed in the back? Mandated political representation and murders," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 56(4), pages 595-634, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:24:p:10255-:d:458862. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.