Association between Addiction to SMS Addiction-related Factors and Depression in Students of Qom University of Medical Sciences, 2014, Iran

Addiction to SMS, as a disorder and psychological trauma caused by contemporary technology, has attracted the attention of psychologists, sociologists, and the scholars of education. This study has been conducted with the purpose of determining the correlation between addiction to SMS and depression in the students of Qom University of Medical Sciences.

The present research was performed as a descriptive cross-sectional study on 300 students of Qom University of Medical Sciences through simple random sampling method using Igarashi Standard questionnaire for addiction to SMS and Beck Questionnaire of Depression. Data were analyzed using inferential statistical tests of independent t-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson’s correlation coefficient at a significant level of p<0.05.

In this study, 89.9% of the research samples were in the age group of 18-22 years, 71.3% were girls, 86.2% single, and 63.4% indigenous; 28.1% of the students were addicted to SMS, and no significant correlation was found between addiction to SMS and depression in the students (p<0.05) (r=0.024).

Considering the results of this study, it is worth to pay more attention to the phenomenon of addiction to SMS in students, and authorities should plan for appropriate culture-making and the accurate teaching of proper use of mobile phone at university.