Abstract
BackgroundProblematic mobile phone use (PMPU) has become a public health issue in China, particularly in adolescents and young adults. The Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire-Short Version (PMPUQ-SV) is a validated instrument that measures multiple aspects of PMPU. The current study aimed to test the psychometric characteristics of a Chinese adaption of the PMPUQ-SV and examine its measurement invariance across gender.MethodsA total of 2086 participants were recruited form nine schools (six undergraduate colleges and three vocational colleges) through an online platform. Measures included socio-demographic variables, patterns of mobile phone use, the Chinese version of the PMPUQ-SV (C-PMPUQ-SV), the Chinese version of the Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (C-SAPS), and the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS-21).ResultsExploratory and confirmatory factor analyses conducted in two independent subsamples confirmed that the postulated dimensions fit the data well. Four items, judged as either outdated or not adapted to the Chinese context, performed poorly and were removed, resulting in a shorter 11-item scale. Convergent validity was established through correlations between emotional symptoms and the C-PMPUQ-SV and addictive smartphone use. Additional measurement invariance analyses showed that the scale performed largely similarly in male and female participants.ConclusionsThe present study demonstrated that the C-PMPUQ-SV is an adequate instrument to study various types of PMPU in Chinese adolescents and young adults. The updated 11-item scale shortens the evaluation time and is adapted to assess contemporary smartphone use.
Highlights
Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) has become a public health issue in China, in adolescents and young adults
In order to tackle the heterogeneous nature of PMPU, Billieux, Van der Linden, and Rochat [38] developed the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ), a 30-item scale that measures four distinct issues related to mobile phone use: (1) perceived dependence (PD), (2) prohibited use (PU), (3) dangerous use (DU), and (4) financial problems
The three factors accounted for 55.94% of the total variance, with DU accounting for 29.49%, PD accounting for 14.87%, and prohibited (or antisocial) use (PU) accounting for 11.58%
Summary
Problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) has become a public health issue in China, in adolescents and young adults. One recurrent criticism to such an approach is that some of these criteria are not necessarily valid indicators of pathological behaviors (i.e., they often fail to distinguish heavy but not problematic use from pathological use) [35] Recycling these criteria to create screening tools is susceptible to overpathologization [33]. In order to tackle the heterogeneous nature of PMPU, Billieux, Van der Linden, and Rochat [38] developed the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ), a 30-item scale that measures four distinct issues related to mobile phone use: (1) perceived dependence (PD), (2) prohibited (or antisocial) use (PU), (3) dangerous use (DU), and (4) financial problems. The PMPUQ has been used in various studies to investigate the risk factors and correlates associated with PMPU [39,40,41]
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