FACTORS AFFECTING NOMOPHOBIA RISK BEHAVIOR AMONG UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS IN SURATTHANI RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY

Abstract

               This research aimed to study smartphones/tablets usage, nomophobia risk behaviors, and factors affecting nomophobia risk behaviors among undergraduate students in Suratthani Rajabhat University. The sample group were 400 undergraduate students of academic year 2020 in Suratthani Rajabhat University. The instruments used for data collection were questionnaires. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test, F-test and Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient.

             The results of this research showed that 94.30% of the sample used smartphones/ tablets when they were alone. The top three most frequently used programs or applications in smartphones/tablets were Facebook (95.50%), Line (86.00%) and Messenger (80.30%). It was found that 33% of the sample spent the time with smartphones/tablets more than 10 hours per day. It is mostly used for online chatting, followed by listening to music. The top two nomophobia risk behaviors were using smartphones/tablets longer than intened and taking smartphones/tablets everywhere even going to the toilet. It was also found that 49.00 percent of most of the sample had moderate nomophobia risk behaviors. General data that affecting nomophobia risk behaviors at a significance level of 0.05 were year, faculty, GPA, using smartphones/tablets while eating, frequency of using smartphones/tablets for calls per day, and duration of time for using smartphones/tablets per day. Five factors that affecting nomophobia risk behavior among undergraduate students at a significance level of 0.05 were the objective of using smartphones/tablets (r=0.30, p<0.05), family (r=0.20, P<0.05), friend (r=0.28, p<0.05), popularity (r=0.55, p<0.05) and technology (r=0.34, p<0.05).