Nomophobia (fear of losing a smartphone) and its relationship to belonging and emotion regulation among university students.

           The research aimed to identify the level of nomophobia (fear of losing a smartphone) among university students and to reveal differences in nomophobia according to gender (males and females) and academic specialization (scientific and literary), to determine the nature of the relationship between nomophobia and belonging and emotion regulation among a sample of 480 university students. Nomophobia Scale, Belonging Scale, and Emotion Regulation Scale (all developed by the Two researchers) were used .The results showed a high level of nomophobia among university students, there were no statistically significant differences between males and females in "fear of losing internet connection, addiction to using smartphones, psychological attachment to the phone, entertainment attachment to the phone, and the total score on the nomophobia scale." However, there were statistically significant differences in the two dimensions of "social attachment to the phone, and informational attachment to the phone" in favor of females. The results also showed that there were no statistically significant differences between scientific and literary specializations in "fear of losing internet connection, addiction to using  smartphones, and psychological attachment to the phone, Entertainment attachment to the phone, social attachment to the phone, and the total score on the scale were also found. There were statistically significant differences in informational attachment dimension of the phone in the direction of scientific specialization. The results also showed a statistically significant negative correlation between nomophobia and belonging, as well as between nomophobia and dimensions of emotion regulation (cognitive reappraisal, emotional control, and attitude modification). The results concluded that there was a statistically significant positive correlation between nomophobia and dimensions of emotion regulation (emotional suppression, ignoring, and overthinking).