3.1 Characteristics of the study population
Of the 383 participants who completed the online questionnaire, only 257 met the inclusion criteria and were included in this study. Table 1 illustrates the demographic characteristics of the study participants, where 156 (60.70%) of the participants were in the 18-25 years age group (p=0.003, Table 1 ). Females (70.43%) represented two-thirds of the entire sample. There was a minor discrepancy in the participants’ ethnic backgrounds; 50.97% of them were not Middle Eastern, while those of Middle Eastern origin made up 49.03% of the participants. Regarding employment status, most of the participants were students (50.97%), and most were not students; most of them worked in the engineering sector (31.15%). A total of 42.41% of the participants were residents of Sharjah, and most of the participants were not living alone (93.77%). Those who obtained higher education accounted for 57.59% of the total sample population. A total of 34.63% of the study participants fell into the second highest income range, which was between 21,000 and 50,000 Dhs (p= 0.003, Table 1 ).