Greek version of the Internet Addiction Test: a validation study

Psychiatr Q. 2014 Jun;85(2):187-95. doi: 10.1007/s11126-013-9282-2.

Abstract

The aim of this project was to translate, culturally adapt and validate the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) in Greek adults. Twenty-one post-graduate medical students participated in the cultural adaptation procedure and 151 both post- and under-graduate medical students in the validation process. The internal consistency shown by a Cronbach's alpha was 0.91. Two-week test-retest reliability was rtt = 0.84, p < 0.001. Face validity was affirmed by 83.6 % of the students. In terms of convergent validity, the hours of daily internet use were positively correlated with IAT score (rho = 0.48, p < 0.001). Moreover, IAT scores were higher in students that reported use of online gambling (40.5 vs 29.2, p = 0.004), pornographic sites (36.5 vs 28.0, p = 0.003) and online games (35.6 vs 28.2, p = 0.009). Exploratory factor analysis revealed three interpretable factors for the IAT, "Psychological/Emotional Conflict", "Time Management" and "Neglect Work", that showed good internal consistency and concurrent validity, explaining 55.3 % of the variance. The Greek version of IAT has shown good psychometric properties, comparable with the original IAT and the previously published translated versions, and can be a useful tool in future studies on internet addiction.

Publication types

  • Validation Study

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Behavior, Addictive / diagnosis*
  • Behavior, Addictive / psychology
  • Child
  • Conflict, Psychological
  • Factor Analysis, Statistical
  • Greece
  • Humans
  • Internet / statistics & numerical data*
  • Psychometrics / standards*
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Students, Medical / psychology*
  • Students, Medical / statistics & numerical data
  • Surveys and Questionnaires / standards
  • Time Factors
  • Translations*
  • Young Adult