Further Evidence for the Psychometric Properties of Young’s Internet Addiction Test (IAT): A Study on a Sample of Israeli-Arab Male Adolescents (2019)

Am J Health Behav. 2019 Nov 1;43(6):1030-1039. doi: 10.5993/AJHB.43.6.2.

Yaffe Y1, Seroussi DE2.

Abstract

Objectives: In this study, we assessed the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the 20-item Internet Addiction Test (IAT).

Methods: We had 180 Israeli-Arab male adolescents ranging in age from 12 to 16 (M = 13.92, SD = 1.42) complete the IAT and report their pornography viewing habits, their physical activity rate, and their grades at school.

Results: We used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to determine the tool’s structure, resulting with one-factor and 2-factor solutions both accounting for at least 50% of the variance explained by the models (using EFA). Upon dropping item 12 and items 12 and 15 from the one-factor model and the 2-factor model, respectively, the models demonstrated adequate psychometric properties (.73 ≤ α ≤ .94) and fitted fairly with the data (using CFA). The IAT scores correlated significantly with concurrent reports of the participants’ pornography viewing, grades at school, and physical activity rate, reinforcing the tool’s construct validity.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the IAT is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring Internet addiction among literate Israeli-Arab male adolescents for whom Hebrew is their second language and, presumably, other Israeli adolescents for whom Hebrew is the native language.

PMID: 31662163

DOI: 10.5993/AJHB.43.6.2