Problematic smartphone use among adults: Exploratory measure development and validation in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

This study aimed to develop and validate a scale to measure problematic smartphone use. Respondents were 708 adults (female = 54.1%, mean age = 25.1 years, SD = 8.5 years) who were randomly recruited for a cross-sectional survey. We purposively selected 24 adults (equal male and female representation; age groups = 18–30, 31–50, and 51–65 years; income groups = low, middle, and high income), who participated in the initial item development fiend testing. Exploratory factor analysis resulted in a 30-item, four-factor effects measure of Problematic Smartphone use. The factors included psychological, functional, relationship, and withdrawal effects. This four-factor model explained 47.84% of the common variance between the indicators, with 14% non-redundant residuals with absolute values greater than 0.05. Cronbach’s alpha for the four subscales (0.90, 0.73, 0.82, and 0.70, respectively) indicated satisfactory to excellent internal consistency reliabilities. Further studies should focus on determining clinically significant effect size, test-retest reliability, and criterion validity of this scale.

Keywords:

• behavioural addiction
• problematic smartphone use
• Saudi Arabia
• smartphone addiction