Social Media Addiction Scale validation in a Portuguese sample

Abstract

This study aims to validate a scale to measure addiction to social media (SMAS) for the Portuguese population (SMAS-PV). The original 14 items’ SMAS was translated and back-translated from English to Portuguese. Psychometric scale validation procedures were followed. SMAS-PV’s properties were assessed in a sample of 605 Portuguese university and high-school students. A Parallel Analysis was carried out as a criterion for extracting factors in Exploratory Factorial Analysis (EFA), EFA for ordinal data, with unweighted least squares (ULS). This was followed by confirmatory factor analysis to examine whether the structure pattern fitted the Portuguese context. The resulting scale, with eight items in a two-component structure, compulsive feelings, and social consequences, demonstrated high reliability and validity. The Portuguese version of the social media addiction scale presented good psychometric qualities, constituting a credible instrument for assessing social media addiction. Participants with the highest addiction levels spend more time connected to social media.

Contribution of Social Media Addiction on Intention to Buy in Social Media Sites

“…A research protocol was developed, including a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Hajli [24] instrument to measure the relationships between the constructs of social media use, trust, perceived usefulness, and intention to buy in SNSs, and the Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS, [37]; Portuguese version by Leite et al [38]). The protocol was made available online through Google Forms and was posted on a page on a social network created specifically for this purpose.…”

“…The Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS, [37]; Portuguese Version by Leite et al [38]) was adapted from the Young's Internet Addiction Scale [40]. This instrument evaluates the symptoms of addiction to social media through three factors, and fourteen items, answered on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from "1-strongly disagree" to "5-strongly agree".…”

“…The Portuguese version of this scale [38] includes ten items distributed by two factors: factor 1 (items 1, 2, 6, 11, 13, and 14) named compulsive feelings (α = 0.76) and factor 2 (items 3, 4, 8, and 9) named social consequences (α = 0.73) and the total scale presented a Cronbach's alpha of 0.81. The scale instruction and response modalities were maintained in the Portuguese version.…”