Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2019 Jul;22(7):451-464. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2018.0731. Epub 2019 Jun 13.
Lopez-Fernandez O1,2, Griffiths MD1, Kuss DJ1, Dawes C1, Pontes HM1, Justice L1, Rumpf HJ3, Bischof A3, Gässler AK3, Suryani E4, Männikkö N5, Kääriänen M6, Romo L7,8, Morvan Y7,8, Kern L9, Graziani P10,11, Rousseau A12, Hormes JM13, Schimmenti A14, Passanisi A14, Demetrovics Z15, Király O15, Lelonek-Kuleta B16, Chwaszcz J17, Dufour M18, Ponce Terashima J19, Chóliz M20, Zacarés JJ21, Serra E21, Rochat L22, Zullino D23,24, Achab S23,24, Landrø NI25, Billieux J26.
Abstract
The 14-item Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) is one of the most frequently internationally adapted psychometric instruments developed to assess generalized problematic Internet use. Multiple adaptations of this instrument have led to versions in different languages (e.g., Arabic and French), and different numbers of items (e.g., from 5 to 16 items instead of the original 14). However, to date, the CIUS has never been simultaneously compared and validated in several languages and different versions. Consequently, the present study tested the psychometric properties of four CIUS versions (i.e., CIUS-14, CIUS-9, CIUS-7, and CIUS-5) across eight languages (i.e., German, French, English, Finnish, Spanish, Italian, Polish, and Hungarian) to (a) examine their psychometric properties, and (b) test their measurement invariance. These analyses also identified the optimal versions of the CIUS. The data were collected via online surveys administered to 4,226 voluntary participants from 15 countries, aged at least 18 years, and recruited from academic environments. All brief versions of the CIUS in all eight languages were validated. Dimensional, configural, and metric invariance were established across all languages for the CIUS-5, CIUS-7, and CIUS-9, but the CIUS-5 and CIUS-7 were slightly more suitable because their model fitted the ordinal estimate better, while for cross-comparisons, the CIUS-9 was slightly better. The brief versions of the CIUS are therefore reliable and structurally stable instruments that can be used for cross-cultural research across adult populations.
KEYWORDS: Compulsive Internet Use Scale; cross-cultural research; measurement invariance; psychometric testing
PMID: 31295025
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