Relationship between Problematic Smartphone Use and Social Anxiety Among University Students: A Case of United States International University- Africa

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between problematic smartphone use and social anxiety among United States International University-Africa students, Kenya. A total of 106 students were selected via convenience sampling comprising of 68.9% females (N = 73) and 31.1% males (N = 33). The average age of the entire respondents was 28 + (SD: 0.59). The theoretical framework was based on Self-determination theory and descriptive correlational design was the research methodological design. To measure problematic smartphone use (PSU), smartphone addiction scale-short version (SAS-SV) was adopted whilst social anxiety scale (SIAS) was used to measure social anxiety. Result of the study indicated that 58.5% of the university students had moderate levels of PSU, 30.2% had low PSU, 9.4 % high PSU and only 1.9% indicated no presence of PSU. For social anxiety, 17% had high symptoms of social anxiety, 6.6% moderate, and 76.4% low symptoms of social anxiety. Pearson correlation test was used to determine the relationship between the variables and the findings revealed that there was a statistically significant positive correlation (r = 0.222, P = 0.02) between problematic smartphone use and social anxiety among students. This study concludes that there was a relationship between problematic smartphone use and social anxiety among university students. Findings therefore highlighted the need for early intervention to reduce problematic smartphone use and social anxiety among university students