The Effect of Mobile Phone Usage on Sleep Quality and Academic Stress among University Students

Abstract

The present study investigated the effect of mobile phone usage before sleep on sleep quality and academic stress among university students in Pakistan. A quantitative, cross-sectional research design was used with a sample of 300 university students (M = 150, F = 150) selected from public and private universities of the Federal and Punjab regions of Pakistan through a non-probability purposive sampling technique. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (Buysse et al., 1989), and academic stress was assessed using the Perception of Academic Stress Scale (Bedewy & Gabriel, 2015). Duration of mobile phone use before sleeping at night was recorded through a self constructed demographic information sheet and categorized into three groups: less than 1 hour, 1 to 2 hours, and more than 2 hours. The results indicated that mobile phone usage before sleep was significantly associated with both sleep quality and academic stress. Students who used their mobile phones for more than 2 hours before sleeping reported significantly poorer sleep quality and higher academic stress compared to those who used their phones for shorter durations. The findings suggest that pre-sleep mobile phone use is an important behavioral factor associated with disrupted sleep and elevated academic stress among university students, with implications for sleep hygiene education and digital well-being interventions on universities.