Analysis of phubbing among university students: a study of its prevalence, incidence factors and predictors

The ubiquitous presence of smartphones has led to new phenomenon such as "phubbing"(the act of ignoring one's immediate surroundings in favor of using a mobile phone). This behavior has become increasingly common among university students, making it an important subject of study due t...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Muñoz-Carril, Pablo-César, Bargiela, Inés M., Estévez, Iris, Bonilla del Río, Mónica
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2025
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Cantabria (UC)
Repositorio:UCrea Repositorio Abierto de la Universidad de Cantabria
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:dnet:ucreareposit::df76cca4346d10d3f026f619d279f4a6
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10902/39760
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Phubbing
Smartphone
University
Students
Gender
Age
Academic performance
Connection frequency
Descripción
Sumario:The ubiquitous presence of smartphones has led to new phenomenon such as "phubbing"(the act of ignoring one's immediate surroundings in favor of using a mobile phone). This behavior has become increasingly common among university students, making it an important subject of study due to its potential negative impact on learning environments. The aim of the present study is to analyze the prevalence of phubbing among university students, the existence of significant differences as a function of specific sociodemographic variables (such as gender, age, academic performance, and connection frequency), and, lastly, the predictive capacity of these elements with the different levels of phubbing experienced. The sample was composed of 1121 Spanish university students, and the instrument selected for the collection of data was the Phubbing Scale, which was divided into three factors, "attachment to the mobile phone", "communication disturbance", and "smartphone obsession", through different validity and reliability tests.The results indicated a moderately high prevalence of phubbing among the population studied. Likewise, statistically significant differences were identified at a multivariate level in the three dimensions. Lastly, it is notable that the frequency of smartphone usage significantly and positively predicted the three dimensions of phubbing.