Development and validation of a screen addiction scale for students

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the whole world, education in Turkey, as in foreign countries, has been carried out through e-learning and therefore through a screen. This pandemic has been a factor that has increased the time students spend with screens out of the lesson. Since screens have become an essential part of daily life, it is important to distinguish overuse. In this context, it was aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale to determine students’ screen addiction levels. Descriptive research model was used in the study. A study group consisting of 490 middle school students studying in Turkey was determined for the research. “Screen Addiction Scale (SAS)” was developed by the researcher to determine the screen addiction of the students. In the preparation of the scale items, eight criteria used to diagnose screen addiction, which were created by Sigman ( 2017 ) based on DSM-5 criteria, were utilized. Factor analysis revealed that SAS has a structure with 21 items and 4 factors. The dimensions are as follows: (1) Negative consequences-Compulsive use, (2) Mood regulation, (3) Lying about use, (4) Withdrawal-Loss of interest). A valid and reliable scale was obtained, which was validated by the first-order multifactor model and the second-order multifactor model.