Validation of Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale Among Nigerian University Undergraduates

Abstract

Background: Research studies show a high penetration rate of Facebook usage among Nigerian most of which are compulsive. The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) had been validated in many languages and is used in many countries but not yet in Nigeria. This study validates BFAS to determine psychometric properties acceptable for Nigerian population.Method: A total of 864 (mean age 20.5) undergraduates purposively selected from two stateowned and two privately owned Universities in Osun state southwestern Nigeria made up of 352 male and 512 females, participated in the study. Participants responded to Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS), Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV).Section 6. Psychology 32Results: Determined new norm for the six factors of BFAS for both male and female ranged from ≥ 42.3 (relapse) to ≥ 50.5 (mood modification). Internal consistency showed a Cronbach's coefficient of .90, a Spearman-Brown coefficient of .83 and Guttman Split-Half coefficient of .83. All items in the scale reported acceptable goodness-of-fit measures revealing corrected item-total correlations range of .88 to .90. All the factors of BFAS had acceptable Cronbach standardized alpha ranging from salience .73, to mood modification .81. Significant positive correlation was observed between the scales revealing concurrent validity scores of r = .558, p= .000 between BFAS and SAS-SV and r = .508, p = .000 between BFAS and IAT.Conclusion: BFAS is none gender sensitive and has acceptable psychometric properties for Nigerian population.

Addictive use of smartphone, depression and anxiety among female undergraduates in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study

“…A Cronbach's alpha of 0.83 was obtained in this study, although 0.91 was reported by the original author [11]. The total score in the SAS-SV is 60 and the cut off value set at 32 [48], and those who scored higher than the cut-off values are considered as high-risk for smartphone addiction while those in the 90th percentile of SAS-SV score are probably pathological smartphone addicts [46]. Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) [49] is a 9-item shortened version of the full Patient Health Questionnaire aimed at detecting depression.…”

“…Research on the relationship between addictive use of smartphone and mental health is mostly conducted in Western and Asian countries [10,15], but scarce literature on the African population [3,46]. Although industry projections suggest that the smartphone adoption rate in sub-Saharan Africa will increase in the coming years [47].…”

The validity and reliability of Persian version of smartphone addiction questionnaire in Iran

“…Ching et al [ 14 ] investigated the validity and reliability of the SAS questionnaire in Malaysia with Cronbach’s alpha of 0.94. The Cronbach’s alpha for validity and reliability of the shortened SAS version conducted by Bede C. Akpunne et al [ 22 ] in Nigeria was 0.82. Khalily et al [ 23 ] investigated the validity and reliability of the short version of SAS in Pakistan (Urdu language) with Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.81 which was consistent with the original SAS version.…”

The prevalence of smartphone addiction and associated factors among Zimbabwean undergraduate students: a cross-sectional study

“…The SAS-SV is a 10-item smartphone addiction outcome measure [21]. Each item is rated on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree).…”

“…Each item is rated on a 6-point scale, ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). The cumulative score range is 10 to 60; scores≥ 33 suggest smartphone addiction [21,22] It is brief and easily administered and has crosscultural validity [23].…”