Relationship Between Smartphone Addiction, Loneliness, and Perceived Social Support Among College Students

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the relationship between Smartphone addiction, loneliness, and perceived social support among college students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 1st-year and 2nd-year students from various colleges in KP, Pakistan. The data were collected from a sample of 199 college students, including both male and female students from various colleges in KP, Pakistan. The scales used were Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV), UCLA Loneliness Scale, and the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS) to assess the study variables. Descriptive statistics and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation were used to analyze the data using SPSS 25. An independent sample t-test was also done for gender differences on the variable of loneliness. Findings showed that Smartphone addiction was significantly positively correlated with loneliness. Findings also showed that Smartphone addiction was negatively correlated with perceived social support. Result also showed gender differences on the variable of loneliness as female students had significantly higher scores on the variable of loneliness compared to male students.