Developing a Structural Model of the Relationship between Nomophobia and Depression with the Mediating Role of Social anxiety in Students

The present study was conducted with the aim of investigating the mediating role of social anxiety in the relationship between nomophobia and depression. The current research method was correlation based on structural equations modeling. The statistical population of this research consists of all the students of Imam Khomeini International University (RA) Qazvin in different academic levels who were studying in 2023-2024. A random cluster sampling method was applied to select 229 students. The data were collected using the social anxiety questionnaires of Jerabek, the nomophobia questionnaire of Yıldırım and Correa and the depression, anxiety and stress scale of Lavibond and Lavibond. The obtained data were analyzed using by structural equation modeling. The findings confirmed the fit of the proposed model. The investigation of direct and indirect paths of the research showed that nomophobia and social anxiety had a significant relationship with depression. Also, social anxiety had a mediating role in the relationship variables. Based on the findings, it can be concluded that research variables were d irectly and indirectly related to students' depression. Therefore, it is suggested that mental health professionals reduce the negative effects of depression, social anxiety and nomophobia Based on the model findings.