Measuring users’ psychological self-withdrawal on mobile social media: the development of a context dependent instrument

Abstract

IntroductionMSM users have many concerns when disclosing information, such as role conflicts and privacy risks, which can result in nondisclosure. We call these negative feelings associated with MSM use “psychological self-withdrawal” (PSW).MethodsUsing a mixed-methods design, this study develops and validates an instrument for measuring PSW in the WeChat context, based on focus-group interviews (seven participants), one-on-one interviews (eight participants), and a survey of 1200 WeChat users.ResultsThe result shows that PSW measure is a four-item instrument designed to measure PSW in the WeChat context. The results of two exploratory factor analysis pilot tests (n = 91 and n = 81) and a final confirmatory factor analysis test (n = 1200) indicate that the PSW measure has good internal consistency (α = 0.839), factorial validity, and a single-factor structure.DiscussionThe study defines PSW as “users’ series of negative feelings when using WeChat” and develops and validates an PSW measurement, using focus groups, interviews, and a survey. A four-item PSW with acceptable reliability and validity was finally developed.