Abstract
The association between online Flow and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has attracted significant attention. Despite the consensus that online Flow plays a pivotal role in the development of IGD and other Internet addictive behaviors, there has been a lack of consistency in measurement scales used to assess online Flow. Even widely used measures of online Flow have not been psychometrically assessed across culturally diverse populations of gamers. Such an assessment would enhance the accuracy of cross-cultural comparisons. Attending to this need, the present study assessed the psychometric properties of the binary coded (i.e., Yes, No) Online Flow Questionnaire (OFQ), while concurrently taking into consideration country, age, language, and mode of data collection (online or face-to-face) differences. Two sequences of successive multiple group confirmatory factor analyses were used to assess the psychometric properties of the OFQ, between: (a) emergent adults from the United States of America (N = 482, Mage = 25.23, SD = 2.746) and Australia (N = 168, Mage = 23.55, SD = 3.37) and (b) adolescents from Greece (N = 1579, Mage = 16.12, SD = 0.849) and Cyprus (N = 1372, Mage = 15.54, SD = 0.656). Configural and partial metric invariance were confirmed between the United States and Australian samples. For the Greek and Cypriot samples, results indicated full configural and metric invariance. These results provide initial information to researchers and clinicians of the extent to which the OFQ maintains its consistency when used across cultures and invite for further cross-cultural studies in the field. Implications, as well as limitations, are discussed.
Highlights
In order to explain human motivation, researchers have offered several diverse explanations, including those that foreground biological, psychological and holistic factors (Alexandraki et al, 2018; Brunstein, 2018; Scerri et al, in press)
Following benchmarks recommended in the literature the CFI2, TLI3, and RMSEA4
There has been a lack of cross-cultural measurement invariance (MI) examination, even regarding more commonly used scales assessing online Flow, such as the Online Flow Questionnaire (OFQ) (Stavropoulos et al, 2018a)
Summary
In order to explain human motivation, researchers have offered several diverse explanations, including those that foreground biological, psychological and holistic factors (Alexandraki et al, 2018; Brunstein, 2018; Scerri et al, in press). Csikszentmihalyi (1975) highlighted that individuals who intensely engage in forms of play, hobbies and other absorbing activities might often prioritize their enjoyment of these activities over their biological needs. A hierarchical conceptualization of motivation may not sufficiently explain why some people could abdicate instinctual urges including food and water in order to accomplish a task which gratifies highertier needs (Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2014; Whippman, 2017). Such engagement may be due to the individual experiencing a state of “Flow” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2014; Hu et al, in press). When a person experiences these components concurrently, they are perceived to be operating at an “optimal” psychological state, defined as the state of Flow (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990; Nakamura and Csikszentmihalyi, 2014; Hu et al, in press)
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