A cross-national validation of the Internet Severity and Activities Addiction Questionnaire (ISAAQ)

Charlene Omrawo; Konstantinos Ioannidis; Jon E Grant; Nina Lutz; Samuel R Chamberlain; Dan J Stein; Jeggan Tiego; Martin Kidd; Christine Lochner

doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2023.152378

A cross-national validation of the Internet Severity and Activities Addiction Questionnaire (ISAAQ)

Compr Psychiatry. 2023 Apr:122:152378. doi: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2023.152378. Epub 2023 Feb 13.

Authors

Charlene Omrawo¹, Konstantinos Ioannidis², Jon E Grant³, Nina Lutz⁴, Samuel R Chamberlain⁵, Dan J Stein⁶, Jeggan Tiego⁷, Martin Kidd⁸, Christine Lochner⁹

Affiliations

¹ SA MRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Electronic address: charlene@coconsultingpsychology.com.
² Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, University of Chicago, USA.
⁴ Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK.
⁵ Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton, UK; Department of Psychiatry, University of Southampton, UK.
⁶ SA MRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Neuroscience Institute, University of Cape Town, South Africa.
⁷ School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Australia.
⁸ Centre for Statistical Consultation, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
⁹ SA MRC Unit on Risk and Resilience in Mental Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Stellenbosch University, South Africa.

PMID: 36801816
DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2023.152378

Abstract

Problematic usage of the internet (PUI) is of increasing concern in a digitalized world. While several screening tools have been developed to assess PUI, few have had their psychometric properties evaluated, and existing scales are also not typically designed to quantify both the severity of PUI and the nature of diverse problematic online activities. The Internet Severity and Activities Addiction Questionnaire (ISAAQ), consisting of a severity scale (ISAAQ Part A) and an online activities scale (ISAAQ part B) was previously developed to address these limitations. This study undertook psychometric validation of ISAAQ Part A using data from three countries. The optimal one-factor structure of ISAAQ Part A was determined in a large dataset from South Africa, then validated against datasets from the United Kingdom and United States. The scale had high Cronbach's alpha (≥0.9 in each country). A working operational cut-off point was determined to distinguish between those with some degree of problematic use and those without (ISAAQ Part A), and insight was given into the types of potentially problematic activities that may encompass PUI (ISAAQ Part B).

Keywords: Confirmatory factor analysis; Internet addiction; Problematic use of the Internet; Psychometrics; Scale.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Behavior, Addictive* / diagnosis
Humans
Internet
Psychometrics
Reproducibility of Results
South Africa
Surveys and Questionnaires
United Kingdom