The Development of the Digital Addiction Scale for the University Students: Reliability and Validity Study

Abstract

This study was carried out to develop a scale for determining the level of digital addiction of the youth. In this study carried out with a group of 687 students from Siirt, Dicle and Erzincan Universities, a draft scale of 28 items based on the interviews with two students who spent a long time with digital tools and their friends, and on the expert opinions was prepared. The validity of the Digital Addiction Scale (DAS) was determined by descriptive, confirmatory factor analysis, and criterion reliability. Item analysis based on the average of points of 27% lower-upper groups and item-total correlation was conducted. Reliability was determined by Cronbach's alpha and test-retest methods. The result of the factor analysis showed that the DAS explains the 59.51% of the total variance and has a structure consisting of five sub-dimensions called Overuse, Non-restraint, Inhibiting the Flow of Life, Emotional State, and Dependence. The confirmatory factor analysis showed that the DAS has good adaptive values. The scales applied concurrently with the DAS within the scope of criterion validity were also found to be in a significant and positive relation to the DAS. The item-total score correlation coefficients were found between .373 and 620. The t-values of item mean scores of 27% lower-upper groups were found to be significant. Cronbach's Alpha was calculated 0.874. The test-retest reliability made in a three-week interval was calculated r=.779 (p<.001). According to the findings of the study, it is possible to say that the DAS is a valid and reliable measurement tool that can be used to measure the digital addiction of the university students.

Investigating the Digital Addiction Level of the University Students According to Their Purposes for Using Digital Tools

“…The coefficient of the test-retest reliability made in a three-week interval was r = .779 (p< .001). The DA point is obtained by dividing the total point from the DAS by 19 [27].…”

The Level of Internet Addiction Among High School Students at Irbid Public Schools, And Its Relationship with Their Psychosocial Adaptation Problems

“…After reviewing the theoretical literature and previous studies related to the study topic researcher relied on a group of studies, such as Müller, et, al. (2014), Kesici & Tunç (2018), and Karimzadeh (2015) to prepare the Internet addiction instrument and depended on the study of Abu Sukran (2009) to create the psychological adaptation instrument. The two study instruments were created in their final form from (44) items and were divided into three parts, the first part include instructions and personal information, the second part include Internet addiction instrument and contained three fields which are Internet addiction and consists of (10) items, the second field is Internet browsing goals and consists of (9) items and the third field is negative results of using the Internet and consists of (9) items, while the third part include the instrument of psychological and social adaptation problems and contains two fields, the first is psychological adaptation problems and consists of (7) items, and the second field is social adaptation problems and consists of (8) items.…”

Digital Addiction and the Academic Performance Among Universities' Students

“…The Internet has become an integral part of almost every college student's daily routine, and majority of them seem to benefit from use of the Internet to do research and communicate with faculty and classmates (Jones, Johnson-Yale, Perez & Schuler, 2007as cited in O'Brien, 2011. According to Kesici and Tunc (2018) addiction is defined as impulse dependent on a habit of a certain activity or substance use though it has destructive effects on the physical, social, emotional, and mental health of the individual as well as his/her financial situation long years (Young, Yue & Ying, 2011). Addiction is classified in two ways.…”