Assessing Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents by Parental Ratings: Development and Validation of the Social Media Disorder Scale for Parents (SMDS-P)

TY - JOUR

T1 - Assessing Problematic Social Media Use in Adolescents by Parental Ratings: Development and Validation of the Social Media Disorder Scale for Parents (SMDS-P)

AU - Austermann, Maria Isabella

AU - Thomasius, Rainer

AU - Paschke, Kerstin

PY - 2021/2/6

Y1 - 2021/2/6

N2 - BACKGROUND: The problematic use of social media (SM) is a rising phenomenon, especially in adolescents. It can be assessed by self-rating screeners such as the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS). However, young age or symptom denial might reduce adolescent assessment accuracy. Therefore, the development and validation of a parental scale (SMDS-P) is desirable.METHOD: A representative sample of 961 parents and corresponding frequently SM-using children aged 10 to 17 years participated in an online study. Factorial analyses were performed to determine item structure. Adolescents' SMDS self-reports, SM usage time, emotional dysregulation, and academic performance were used to assess validity. The SMDS-P cut-off value was calculated by ROC-analysis.RESULTS: A one-factorial structure of the SMDS-P could be confirmed. The internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α = 0.85, McDonald's ω = 0.88) and the accordance between parental and self-ratings moderate (kappa = 0.51). SMDS-P was positively associated with adolescents' self-ratings (r = 0.68), SM usage time (r = 0.26) and frequency (ϱ = 0.16) as well as with emotional dysregulation (r = 0.35) in a highly significant manner.CONCLUSIONS: SMDS-P offers a promising new approach to assess problematic SM usage in adolescence. Further studies including clinical validations are required.

AB - BACKGROUND: The problematic use of social media (SM) is a rising phenomenon, especially in adolescents. It can be assessed by self-rating screeners such as the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMDS). However, young age or symptom denial might reduce adolescent assessment accuracy. Therefore, the development and validation of a parental scale (SMDS-P) is desirable.METHOD: A representative sample of 961 parents and corresponding frequently SM-using children aged 10 to 17 years participated in an online study. Factorial analyses were performed to determine item structure. Adolescents' SMDS self-reports, SM usage time, emotional dysregulation, and academic performance were used to assess validity. The SMDS-P cut-off value was calculated by ROC-analysis.RESULTS: A one-factorial structure of the SMDS-P could be confirmed. The internal consistency was good (Cronbach's α = 0.85, McDonald's ω = 0.88) and the accordance between parental and self-ratings moderate (kappa = 0.51). SMDS-P was positively associated with adolescents' self-ratings (r = 0.68), SM usage time (r = 0.26) and frequency (ϱ = 0.16) as well as with emotional dysregulation (r = 0.35) in a highly significant manner.CONCLUSIONS: SMDS-P offers a promising new approach to assess problematic SM usage in adolescence. Further studies including clinical validations are required.

U2 - 10.3390/jcm10040617

DO - 10.3390/jcm10040617

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 33561980

VL - 10

JO - J CLIN MED

JF - J CLIN MED

SN - 2077-0383

IS - 4

M1 - 617

ER -