Study on the mobile phone dependence syndrome and its distribution among 2213 college students in Guangzhou

Objective To investigate the occurrence,distribution and risk factors of mobile phone dependence syndrome (MPDS) among college students in Guangzhou.Methods A unified questionnaire was adopted,with 2311 college students from 6 universities in Guangzhou investigated by cluster sampling.Distribution and risk factors of MPDS among different groups were analyzed by logistic regression.Results A total number of 2213 effective questionnaires was retrieved,including 1149 males and 1064 females.The average age was (21.33 ± 1.72).The incidence rate of MPDS among studied college students in Guangzhou was 23.3％ (515/2213).Regarding the distribution of personal characteristics,significant differences were found in the following aspects:grades,majors in college,being the only child of the family,monthly cost of living,personal characters and the academic performance at school (P＜0.05).Regarding the distribution of characteristics among parents,significant differences were found in the following areas:educational levels of the mother,rearing patterns of both parents,status of feeling on mother's caring (P＜0.05) etc.The main risk factors for MPDS were as follows:students majored in literature and law,with high monthly living cost,father' s autocratic and democratic patterns of rearing,mother' s autocratic and doting rearing pattern as well as personal feeling on mother's attitude of unconcern.The incidence of MPDS among those persons with uncertain characters was less than those who were extroverts.Conclusion MPDS among college students seemed to be severe in Guangzhou.No difference was found in the incidence rates of MPDS between genders.Should take interventions according to its risk factors. Key words: Mobile phone dependence syndrome;  University students;  Cross-sectional study