The number of Korean smartphone users exceeded 40 million in 2015, in which roughly 1 in 5 university students were expected to be addicted to their smartphone. Of importance is that smartphone addiction negatively affects physical and mental well-being and health. Sleep problems associated with smartphone is also a serious public concern; but the evidence is lacking. The aim of this study is to investigate the association between smartphone addiction proneness and sleep problems in Korean university students.

We conducted an online-survey which received responses from 608 university students. All participants completed questionnaires on the Korean smartphone addiction scale (K-SAS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and personal characteristics. Based on the scores of the K-SAS, university students were classified into two groups–the addiction proneness group and the normal-user group.

The addiction proneness groups had a higher PSQI score than the normal-user group (7.5 vs. 6.7, P-value < 0.0001). After adjustment for potential covariates (i.e., age, income, and smoking), PSQI scores was significantly increased in the addiction proneness groups (Beta coefficient = 0.69; 95% CI : 0.29 ∼ 1.09). The risk of sleep problems was more increased in the addiction proneness groups (odds ratio = 1.99; 95% CI: 1.33 ∼ 2.98) than the normal-user groups.

We found that the smartphone addiction proneness was associated with sleep problems in university students. Although our findings are further confirmed by elucidating causal relationships between smartphone uses and sleep habits, smartphone addiction proneness may be a risk factor for poor sleep quality.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.