The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been posing a substantial challenge to human survival and well-being, which rely on the actions and behaviors of individuals. It is essential that accurate information is distributed; however, misinformation has been spread via social media. Consequently, the resulting panic has to be addressed while putting essential public health measures in place. It is also important to explore the link between the social media exposure and well-being. Therefore, in the current study, we aimed to identify the levels of anxiety, depression, and social isolation among individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, we explored the relationship between exposure to misleading social media news and anxiety, depression, and social isolation. A cross sectional design was employed to collect data from 371 Saudi participants (aged 16–60 years), using the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7, Centre for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale, and de Jong Gierveld Loneliness Scale. Results showed that the prevalence of anxiety, depression, and social isolation was 47.82%, 47.57%, and 46.42%, respectively. Further, more than 83% of the participants reported using social media frequently during the pandemic. We found that exposure to misinformation via social media has a significant positive relationship with anxiety, depression, and social isolation. However, Due to the cross-sectional nature of this study it cannot be determined whether social media causes negative mental health outcomes, or if individuals experiencing greater depression, anxiety and social isolation turn to social media more than others, or if some third variable might explain both. Based on our findings, we present specific suggestions related to the COVID-19 pandemic to the government of Saudi Arabia. Minoring and filtering out misleading information with the cooperation of the World Health Organization (WHO) can promote the spread of accurate news in Saudi Arabia.

Excessive use of smartphones is known to be associated with negative social, physical, and psychological outcomes across age groups. A related problem is called “no-mobile-phone phobia” or “nomophobia,” which is an extreme anxiety caused by not having access to a mobile phone. Despite their detrimental effects, smartphone use is highly prevalent among deaf/hard-of-hearing (DHH) individuals owing to their accessibility features. Therefore, it was deemed important to identify the prevalence of nomophobia in DHH youth and to examine the association between impulsivity and nomophobia. Gender-based differences in nomophobia and impulsivity were also examined. Data were collected from 187 DHH youth in Saudi Arabia using the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (short form). Findings revealed that 71.65% of the participants experienced severe nomophobia. While, nomophobia was more prevalent among female DHH youth than males, this difference was not observed for impulsivity. A linear regression analysis indicated that higher impulsivity was significantly associated with higher nomophobia in this sample. These findings suggest the importance of helping youth understand the disadvantages of smartphone use, and the consequences of their abuse or addiction to smartphones by incorporating this information into school curricula. Additionally, educating parents may help them monitor their children’s smartphone use more closely.

COVID-19 is a global crisis that has caused many consequences on societies, including Saudi society. For instance, fear, anxiety, and social divergence due to the disease's rapid spread and the absence of efficacious treatment. In addition to closures and quarantine. This study aims at identifying the psychological, social, and economic effects on Saudi society. We used the analytic approach. More specifically, the snowball sampling method was conducted with (1624 participants) aged between (18 -+60) during the COVID-19 pandemic from Riyadh and Najran cities. Accordingly, an online survey was conducted during the outbreak's peak phase, using the researchers' questionnaire. The results indicated that the psychological impact level was 42.25%, social (64.4%), and economic (51%) on Saudi society during the COVID-19 outbreak. In particular, psychosocial influence levels are exceptionally high for unmarried women, patients, and over 60 years. In contrast, the economic impact is high for married couples, private sector employees, and those living in rural areas with less than SAR 5,000. As a result, the study recommended that the Saudi government pay more attention to individuals' social, psychological, and economic aspects by developing medium and long-term political strategies, such as mapping the rates of psychological, social, and economic health problems to allocate adequate support and creating innovative ways online to increase the people well-being.   Received: 2 February 2021 / Accepted: 31 March 2021 / Published: 10 May 2021

Purpose: bullying among students with disabilities, especially hearing impairment adolescents is a neglected problem in most Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of cyberbullying and traditional bullying and their relationship to self‐esteem in adolescent students in southern Saudi Arabia. Methods: Three questionnaires (cyberbullying, traditional bullying, and self‐esteem) were used to assess the studied parameters. They were distributed to 81 students with hearing impairment (10th and 12th grade), (M = 18.64, SD = 1.06). Main Findings: Findings indicated that 56.4% were exposed to traditional victimization, 52.9% bullied others at school, 44.6% were not exposed to victimization, while 47.1% had not participated. Concerning cyberbullying, 90.5% were not exposed to cyber-victimization, and 94.2% had not participated in cyber-bullying. Males were more exposed to traditional and cyber-victimization than females; besides, they were significantly higher in self-esteem than females. We found a statistically significant correlation between traditional victimization and traditional bully. We also found a statistically significant correlation between self-esteem and both traditional victimization and bully, while no significant correlation between self-esteem and cyber-bully/victims. Novelty/Originality of this study: Additional studies are needed to compare the traditional bullying and cyberbullying, and its relationship to psychological variables among Saudi children with disability and typically developing peers. Moreover, there is an urgent need for evolving prevention and intervention programs to overcome bullying and its negative effects among individual and society.

Family is the fundamental unit in building strong and cohesive societies. Therefore, it is essential to provide the family with a range of mechanisms and skills that help to fulfill its mandated role by immunizing its children from destructive beliefs. Thereby, the family plays a pivotal role in embodying what is known as intellectual security in society, which is a key factor in flourishing society's progress and prosperity. In addition, It plays a decisive role in society cohesion and pursuit to achieve intellectual security to its children. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the educational role of the family in enhancing the intellectual security of the children in the Saudi society. The sample consisted of (336) parents, aged between (30-60 years), (mean = 44.04, S.D. =7.42) living in Saudi Arabia. We used the questionnaire developed by researchers, consisting of (36) phrases distributed in three dimensions. The results indicated that the role of parents was in a high level in all dimensions of the questionnaire, Especially, Religious and moral dimension. In addition, Data analysis shows the importance of the educational role of the family in reinforcing the intellectual security of its children in the Saudi society. Based on these results, this study demonstrated the importance of encouraging responsible persons to consider this vital issue with great interests and awareness, and provide full support to Saudi families, helping them to achieve the intellectual security for their children, by increasing security awareness and explaining the dangers of extremism and terrorism to the security. Furthermore, strengthen the intellectual programs, and reduce the obstacles faced by families, and its negative consequences for society.