(249) Smartphone Screen Time as a Predictor of Academic Performance in Pharmacy Students

Objective : This study aims to determine the influence of screen time on professional year one (P1) through professional year three (P3) pharmacy students’ academic performance, sleep quality, stress, and anxiety.

Methods: Text messaging software was used to collect screenshots of students’ previous week's screen time on four occasions throughout the Spring 2023 semester. The primary outcome was the correlation between smartphone screen time and academic performance measured by end-of-semester and cumulative grade point average (GPA). Additional measures of sleep quality (adapted Pittsburgh Quality Sleep Index (PQSI)), and perceived stress, depression, and anxiety (Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-8 (DASS-8)) were collected at baseline and analyzed for correlation with screen time and baseline smartphone addiction (Smartphone Addiction Scale-short version (SAS-SV) using Spearman's correlation.

Results: Average screen time (n=38) was not correlated with cumulative GPA, (rs=.255, p=.123), end-of-semester GPA (rs=-.234, p=.141). Screen time was not correlated with perceived stress (rs=.068, p=.683), depression (rs=-.044, p=.795), or anxiety (rs=-.09, p=.591) subscales and PQSI (rs=-.007, p=.966). From the initial survey (n=57), SAS-SV was not correlated with cumulative GPA (rs(55)=.009, p=.948), semester GPA (rs=-.021, p=.879), lower PQSI (rs=-.122, p=.366), or perceived anxiety (rs=.165, p=.221). Perceived stress (rs=.369, p=.005 and depression (rs=.268, p=.044) subscales had positive correlations.

Conclusions: This study found no correlation between smartphone screen time and end-of-semester or cumulative GPA. Perceived stress and depression were correlated with higher levels of smartphone addiction. Additional studies with higher student participation and a larger population are needed to confirm our findings.