Psychometric evaluation of Persian Nomophobia Questionnaire: Differential item functioning and measurement invariance across gender

Chung-Ying Lin, Mark D. Griffiths, Amir H. Pakpour

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

66 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background and aims: Research examining problematic mobile phone use has increased markedly over the past 5 years and has been related to "no mobile phone phobia" (so-called nomophobia). The 20-item Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) is the only instrument that assesses nomophobia with an underlying theoretical structure and robust psychometric testing. This study aimed to confirm the construct validity of the Persian NMP-Q using Rasch and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models. Methods: After ensuring the linguistic validity, Rasch models were used to examine the unidimensionality of each Persian NMP-Q factor among 3, 216 Iranian adolescents and CFAs were used to confirm its four-factor structure. Differential item functioning (DIF) and multigroup CFA were used to examine whether males and females interpreted the NMP-Q similarly, including item content and NMP-Q structure. Results: Each factor was unidimensional according to the Rach findings, and the four-factor structure was supported by CFA. Two items did not quite fit the Rasch models (Item 14: "I would be nervous because I could not know if someone had tried to get a hold of me;" Item 9: "If I could not check my smartphone for a while, I would feel a desire to check it "). No DIF items were found across gender and measurement invariance was supported in multigroup CFA across gender. Conclusions: Due to the satisfactory psychometric properties, it is concluded that the Persian NMP-Q can be used to assess nomophobia among adolescents. Moreover, NMP-Q users may compare its scores between genders in the knowledge that there are no score differences contributed by different understandings of NMP-Q items.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)100-108
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Behavioral Addictions
Volume7
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2018

Keywords

  • Mobile phone addiction
  • Mobile phone dependence
  • Nomophobia
  • Rasch
  • Smartphone addiction
  • Smartphone dependence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Medicine (miscellaneous)
  • Clinical Psychology
  • Psychiatry and Mental health

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