Smartphones addiction associated with academic achievement among dental students: A cross-sectional study

Purpose: The study sought to examine the association between dental students' smartphone addiction and academic achievement. Methods: Study participants were 374 dental students from the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia school of dentistry. Smartphone addiction was assessed using the short v...

Full description

Autores:
Mafla Chamorro, Ana Cristina
Herrera López, Harvey M.
Eraso, Thanya Fernanda
Melo, Marilyn Alexandra
Muñoz, Natalia
Schwendicke, Falk
Tipo de recurso:
Article of investigation
Fecha de publicación:
2021
Institución:
Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia
Repositorio:
Repositorio UCC
Idioma:
OAI Identifier:
oai:repository.ucc.edu.co:20.500.12494/46657
Acceso en línea:
http://doi.org/10.1002/jdd.12728
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12494/46657
Palabra clave:
desempeño académico
comportamiento adictivo
estudiantes de odontología
educación
adicción a internet
academic performance
addictive behavior
dental students
education
internet addiction
Rights
closedAccess
License
NINGUNA
Description
Summary:Purpose: The study sought to examine the association between dental students' smartphone addiction and academic achievement. Methods: Study participants were 374 dental students from the Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia school of dentistry. Smartphone addiction was assessed using the short version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS-SV), an instrument that was validated a priori using item response theory, information function test, and confirmatory factor analysis. Students' semester grade point average (GPA) served as a measure of academic performance. The association between SAS-SV scores and GPA was tested using generalized linear modeling adjusting for covariates. Results: The prevalence of smartphone addiction was low (4.8%) in this sample of dental students. Smartphone use was significantly and positively associated with GPA (b = 0.012; 95% confidence interval = 0.005-0.020; P = 0.001) while accounting for students' age and year of study. Conclusions: Smartphone usage was positively associated with dental students' academic performance. Importantly, a small number of students were identified as suffering from smartphone addiction. Future research should help clarify the mechanisms underlying this association, identify students at risk for smartphone addiction, and further elucidate the relevance of these findings in dental education.