Understanding nomophobia in older adults: The role of function preferences, attitudes toward aging, and mental health

Nomophobia, the fear of being without mobile phones, has emerged as a problem among older adults with the growing popularity of smartphones. This study aims to examine how older adults' nomophobia is associated with their use frequency of different functions on smartphones, as well as their attitudes toward aging. A cross-sectional questionnaire survey (N = 315) was conducted in mainland China. Our findings revealed that older adults' nomophobia was positively associated with their use of instrumental, social, information, and production functions on smartphones, yet negatively associated with their mental health. In addition, older adults' attitudes toward aging, along with frequent use of social functions, were found to indirectly relate to their nomophobia through the mediation of their mental health. The findings revealed the complexity between older adults' smartphone dependency and mental health, highlighting the roles of their daily smartphone use behavior and attitudes toward aging. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).