Measurement Invariance of the Internet Addiction Test Among Hong Kong, Japanese, and Malaysian Adolescents

There has been increased research examining the psychometric properties on the Internet Addiction Test across different ages and populations. This population-based study examined the psychometric properties using Confirmatory Factory Analysis and measurement invariance using Item Response Theory (IRT) of the IAT in adolescents from three Asian countries. In the Asian Adolescent Risk Behavior Survey (AARBS), 2,535 secondary school students (55.91% girls) in Grade 7 to Grade 13 (Mean age = 15.61 years; SD=1.56) from Hong Kong (n=844), Japan (n=744), and Malaysia (n=947) completed a survey on their Internet use that incorporated the IAT scale. A nested hierarchy of hypotheses concerning IAT cross-country invariance was tested using multi-group confirmatory factor analysis. Replicating past finding in Hong Kong adolescents, the construct of IAT is best represented by a second-order three-factor structure in Malaysian and Japanese adolescents. Configural, metric, scalar, and partial strict factorial invariance was established across the three samples. No cross-country differences on Internet addiction were detected at latent mean level. This study provided empirical support to the IAT as a reliable and factorially stable instrument, and valid to be used across Asian adolescent populations

Addiction to Social Network Site Use: An Information Technology Identity Perspective

As the popularity of social network sites (SNSs) has grown substantially over the past years, several negative effects of using SNSs have been experienced by users and reported by Information Systems (IS) researchers. Addiction to SNSs is one of such negative experiences, which has widely been considered from a psychopathology perspective. While increasingly there is more studies in IS on this phenomenon, it is still unclear what characterises addiction to SNSs and what may influence it. This in-progress study adopts an information technology (IT) identity perspective and applies Dual Systems Theory as well as Protection Motivation Theory to provide an initial understanding of what impacts SNS addiction and how to combat it from an IT/SNS identity perspective. To achieve these objectives, we reviewed the literature and proposed a preliminary framework of addiction to SNSs use. We then offer discuss research implications and propose ideas for future studie

Assessing the Psychometric Properties of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) Among Lebanese College Students

Internet addiction is an emergent problem; yet, both a strong conception of the factors precipitating challenging activities and a gold standard tool for evaluating symptoms are deficient. The aim of this study was to carry out a psychometric analysis using the most commonly employed screening tool, the young Internet Addiction Test (IAT), comprising a sample of Lebanese University medical students. Two hundred and fifty-six undergraduate medical students from a university in Beirut, Lebanon were included in our IAT. Exploratory factor analysis was employed, and four factors were extracted. These four factors were named as Lack of Control, Social Withdrawal and Emotional Conflict, Time Management Problems, and Concealing Problematic Behavior. Furthermore, the selected factors explained 56.5% of the total variance. Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the internal reliability of the scale was found to be 0.91. For each subscale, the internal consistency score was approximated and detected as 0.76, 0.74, 0.69, and 0.63 for the first through fourth factor, respectively. Item total correlations were calculated and had a value range from 0.37 to 0.63 for the 20 items. IAT is a proper tool for evaluating internet addiction in Lebanese college students

Investigation of relationship between problematic internet use and psychological symptoms of university studentsÜniversite öğrencilerinde problemli internet kullanımı ile psikolojik belirtiler arasındaki ilişkinin incelenmesi

In this study, investigation of the relationships between problematic internet use and psychological symptoms of university students were aimed. Besides, the effects of gender and level of class were investigated. The sample of research was consisted of 518 female and 335 male, totally 853 college students. Data was collected by Problematic Internet Use Scale and Brief Symtom Inventory. Data was analyzed by using SPSS 20 programme with parametric techniques as, Spearman Brown correlation, Kruskal Wallis H and Mann Whitney U. According to results, there were statistically significant positive relationships between problematic internet use and psychological symptoms of college students. It was found that gender was effective on problematic internet use and psychological symptoms of college students. Besides, problematic internet use and psychological symptoms increased with grade level and university. ÖzetBu araştırmanın amacı üniversite öğrencilerinde problemli internet kullanımı ile psikolojik belirtiler arasındaki ilişkiyi incelemektir. Bu temel amaç kapsamında üniversite öğrencilerinde problemli internet kullanımı ve psikolojik belirtilerin cinsiyet ve sınıf düzeyi değişkenlerine göre farklılaşıp farklılaşmadığı da incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın örneklemi 518’i kadın, 335’i erkek olmak üzere toplam 853 üniversite öğrencisinden oluşmaktadır. Araştırmada ölçme aracı olarak Problemli İnternet Kullanımı Ölçeği (PİKÖ), Kısa Semptom Envanteri (KSE) kullanılmıştır. Veriler SPSS 20. istatistik paket programı kullanılarak analiz edilmiştir. Analizlerde Spearman Brown Sıra Farkları Korelasyonu, Kruskal Wallis H ve Mann Whitney U testi analiz teknikleri kullanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucuna göre üniversite öğrencilerinin problemli internet kullanımı ile psikolojik belirtiler arasında istatistiksel olarak anlamlı düzeyde pozitif yönde ilişkiler olduğu saptanmıştır. Ayrıca cinsiyet ve sınıf düzeyinin problemli internet kullanımı ve psikolojik belirtiler üzerinde etkili faktörler olduğu saptanmıştır