Association between Smartphone Addiction and Mental Health during the COVID-19 Pandemic 2021 among Inner Mongolia Medical University Students, China

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand the status of smartphone addiction and mental health of Undergraduates in Inner Mongolia Medical University during the period of the prevalence of COVID-19, and to explore the relationship between the mental health status and smartphone addiction of Undergraduates in Inner Mongolia Medical University. Methodology: Five colleges were randomly selected from Inner Mongolia Medical University, and 100 undergraduate students were randomly selected from each college. A total of 500 students were investigated by questionnaire, including demographic characteristics, smartphone use behaviors, smartphone addition scale: Short Version (SAS-SV) (10 questions), life experience during COVID-19, Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21) 21 questions. Univariate logistic regression analysis used binary logistical regression to explore the nature and significance of the relationship between dependent and independent variables. After putting the significant factors into multivariable logistic regression models to control any possible confounding factors, the factors significantly related to smartphone addiction and depression, anxiety, stress were proposed. Results: In the questionnaire survey (33.6% of males and 66.4% of females), the age range was 18 to 28 years old. Almost 277(55.4%) participants can be considered as smartphone addiction,233(44.6%) participants cannot be considered smartphone addiction.105 (21.0%) considered having depression, 153 (30.6%) had anxiety and 69 (13.8%) had stress. Smartphone addiction (OR=4.53), compared with non-addiction, addiction has a positive correlation with the depression the depression risk of smartphone addicts is 4.53 times that of non-smartphone addicts. smartphone addiction (OR=6.47), compared with non-addiction, addiction has a positive correlation with the anxiety the anxiety risk of smartphone addicts is 6.47 times that of non-smartphone addicts. Smartphone addiction (OR=4.05), compared with non-addiction, addiction has a positive correlation with the stress the stress risk of smartphone addicts is 4.05 times that of non-smartphone addicts. Conclusion: Smartphone addiction is very common among the undergraduates of Inner Mongolia Medical University. This study also determined the association between smartphone addiction and mental health of the undergraduates of Inner Mongolia Medical University. These results indicate that intervention measures need to be taken to reduce the smartphone addiction of Undergraduates of Inner Mongolia Medical University to improve their mental health.