The Internet Addiction Test: Assessing its psychometric properties in Bangladeshi culture

Abstract

There is growing importance of the Internet Addiction Test (IAT) in Internet addiction research around the world. Since the development of the IAT (Young, 1996, 1998), a number of validation studies have been done in various cultures. The aim of this study was to translate the instrument into Bangla and validate in Bangladeshi culture, a culture vulnerable to Internet addiction. A total of 177 Internet users (77 females and 100 males) participated in the study. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the data from 172 participants (who provided complete responses) identified a four factor structure of the IAT with 18 items. The four factors namely ‘Neglect of duty’, ‘Online dependence’, ‘Virtual fantasies’, and ‘Privacy and self-defense’ together explained 55.68% of the total variance. Problematic (moderate/excessive) users on the IAT scored, on average, higher on each of the four IAT factors as compared to average or non-problematic (minimal) users consistently across genders. The IAT and its factors showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α=.89 for the IAT, and .60–.84 for the factors), strong convergent and discriminant validity. Thus, the Bangla version IAT appears to be valid and reliable and therefore may be used in further research on Internet addiction in the country.