Development of a problematic mobile phone use scale for Turkish adolescents

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Scale (PMPUS) for Turkish Adolescents. The psychometric properties of PMPUS were tested in two separate sample groups that consisted of 950 Turkish high school students. The first sample group (n=309) was used to determine the factor structure of the scale. The second sample group (n=461) was used to test data conformity with the identified structure, discriminant validity and concurrent scale validity, internal consistency reliability calculations, and item statistics calculations. The results of exploratory factor analyses indicated that the scale had three factors: interference with negative effect, compulsion/persistence, and withdrawal/tolerance. The results showed that item and construct reliability values yielded satisfactory rates in general for the three-factor construct. On the other hand, the average variance extracted value remained below the scale value for three subscales. The scores for the scale significantly correlated with depression and loneliness. In addition, the discriminant validity value was above the scale in all sub-dimensions except one. Based on these data, the reliability of the PMPUS scale appears to be satisfactory and provides good internal consistency. Therefore, with limited exception, the PMPUS was found to be reliable and valid in the context of Turkish adolescents. © Copyright 2012, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.