Psychometric Properties of the Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS) on Chilean University Students

Abstract

Introduction: the use and abuse of social networks are harming the mental health of university students. Objective: to adapt and validate the Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS) for the Chilean context to have a reliable instrument to measure addiction to social networks. The sample comprised 686 university students (mean age=28,04, SD=8,4), 71,1 % female, 28,4 % male, and 0,5 % other genders. Methods: confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) using the weighted least squares means and variances method (WLSMV) was used for this study. Results: reliability was Cronbach’s alpha α=0,841. The SMAS yielded two factors that explained 53,433 % of the variance. The CFA yielded very good fit indicators such as CFI=0,959, TLI=0,949, and RMSEA=0,060. Conclusions: based on the results described above, we can affirm that the SMAS is a good instrument to measure social network addiction in college students.