Adaptation and psychometric properties of an Arabic version of the smartphone addiction scale (SAS) in the context of Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: The growing accessibility to smartphones has raised concerns about addictive patterns associated with these technologies. A Smartphone Addiction Scale has been developed to assess individuals' smartphone addiction. However, the psychometric properties of the Smartphone Addiction Scale are scarce in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Aims: This study aimed to translate and adapt the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) to Arabic and examine the psychometric properties of the Arabic scale in the context of Saudi Arabia.

Methods: Forward and backward translations were performed on the English SAS, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2016). The translated version was initially administered to 20 students in a pilot study. In the full study, a sample of 624 participants (52.5% females, mean age = 25 years) responded to questionnaires containing SAS, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale. The survey was sent via online platforms in order to reach as many and diverse participants as possible. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted.

Results: The EFA resulted in a structure of six factors and the CFA indicated that the 6-factor model (daily disturbance, positive anticipation, withdrawal, cyberspace-oriented relationships, overuse, and tolerance) had a good fit in Saudi Arabia (CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMR = 0.04). The scale was also gender invariant and exhibited adequate reliability and convergent and concurrent validity.

Conclusions: The SAS is a reliable and valid measure that can be used to assess smartphone addiction in Saudi Arabia.

Keywords: Arabic smartphone addiction scale; Model fit; Psychometric properties; Reliability; Smartphone addiction; Smartphone addiction scale (SAS).