Longitudinal Relationships between Nomophobia, Addictive Use of Social Media, and Insomnia in Adolescents

Abstract

(1) Background: Temporal relationships between nomophobia (anxiety related to ‘no mobile phone phobia’), addictive use of social media, and insomnia are understudied. The present study aimed to use a longitudinal design to investigate temporal relationships between nomophobia, addictive use of social media, and insomnia among Iranian adolescents; (2) Methods: A total of 1098 adolescents (600 males; 54.6%; age range = 13 to 19) were recruited from 40 randomly selected classes in Qazvin, Iran. They completed baseline assessments. The same cohort was invited to complete three follow-up assessments one month apart. Among the 1098 adolescents, 812 (400 males; 49.3%; age range = 13 to 18) completed the baseline and three follow-up assessments. In each assessment, the participants completed three questionnaires, including the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI); (3) Results: Multilevel linear mixed-effects regression analyses showed that participants demonstrated increased insomnia longitudinally over 3 months (B = 0.12 and 0.19; p = 0.003 and <0.001). Insomnia was associated with nomophobia (B = 0.20; p < 0.001) and addictive use of social media (B = 0.49; p < 0.001). Nomophobia and addictive use of social media interacted with time in associations with insomnia as demonstrated by significant interaction terms (B = 0.05; p < 0.001 for nomophobia; B = 0.13; p < 0.001 for addictive use of social media); (4) Conclusions: Both nomophobia and addictive use of social media are potential risk factors for adolescent insomnia. The temporal relationship between the three factors suggests that parents, policymakers, and healthcare providers may target reducing nomophobia and addictive use of social media to improve adolescents’ sleep.