Development Of A Smartphone Overuse Classification Scale

Abstract

Background: Smartphone overuse has become prevalent worldwide. The aim of this study is to develop a self-administered scale, the Smartphone Overuse Classification Scale (SOCS) that can be used to screen for different types of smartphone overuse.

Methods: The SOCS consists of three subscales: social network app overuse (S-scale), recreational app overuse (R-scale), and information overload (I-scale). A total of 849 participants were recruited to complete questionnaires, including the SOCS, Young’s Diagnosis Questionnaire (Young’s DQ) and a demographic data form.

Results: Three factors (cognitive disorder, behavioral disorder, and mood disorder) were extracted from each subscale of the SOCS, and these explained over 60% of the variance of each subscale. The Cronbach’s alpha was 0.849 for the SOCS and 0.813, 0.726, and 0.706 for the S-scale, R-scale and I-scale, respectively. Intra-class correlations for the SOCS and its subscales ranged from 0.768 to 0.879. The SOCS and its subscales were moderately or highly correlated with Young’s DQ.

Conclusions: The SOCS may provide a basis for developing specific intervention schemes for different types of smartphone overuse.

Keywords:

• Internet addiction
• smartphone addiction
• behavior disorder
• psychometric instrument
• validity and reliability
• psychological scale

Acknowledgements

We thank all of the participants in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by a grant from the construction of the key disciplines of the fourth round of the public health three-year action plan of the Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission under award number 15GWZK1001.