THE PREDICTIVE POWER OF PROBLEMATIC SMARTPHONE USE ON SLEEP, LONELINESS, AND COGNITION IN MEDICAL STUDENTS: A REGRESSION-BASED ANALYSIS

Background: There is a growing public health concern over problematic smartphone use (PSU) among young adults. As medical students are exposed to particular academic pressures, they could be especially susceptible to the negative impacts of PSU. Hypothesis:This study used regression analyses to determine the predictive capacity of PSU for three important outcomes: sleep disturbances, feelings of loneliness, and cognitive functioning in a sample of medical students. Methods: The cross-sectional design with 230 medical students was used. PSU, sleep disturbances, loneliness and cognitive functioning were measured using validated scales. The predictive relationship between PSU on each dependent variable was determined using simple linear regression analyses.