Psychometric Properties of Mobile Phone Abuse (MPA): Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis in Student Mobile Users

Abstract

Objective: Smartphone is an important technology device in our lifestyle. It has an important part of our daily lives, but it also has a negative effect, such as cell phone dependency. This research aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of mobile phone abuse (MPA) in the Iranian population.

Method: In this study, data were chosen from 1100 participants who were studying in Tehran universities. The principal version of the scale was translated into Persian using the back translation method. All attendees completed Demographic Questionnaire, MPA Questionnaire, and Mobile Phone Problematic Use Scale (MPPUS). Eventually, a clinical interview (based on the fifth version of DSM) was done for all the participants. For data analysis, internal and external consistency, factor analysis, construct validity and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were used. Statistically, less than 0.05 were considered to be ‎ significant.‎

Results: According to expert judgments, content validity index was satisfactory. Furthermore, the reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed with Cronbach’s α of 0.90 and test-retest reliability of 0.56 after 3 weeks. The best cutoff point for this questionnaire (MPA) was 46. Also, 4 factors were extracted by principal components method and varimax rotation: “excessive use of cell phone,” “addictive use of social networks,” “mood modification,” and “preoccupation” for both male and female students.

Conclusion: MPA could be used in studies on the evaluation of mobile phone addiction. This can be a stepping stone towards the identification of problems and improvement of students’ mobile phone abuse.