A psychometric approach to assessments of problematic use of online pornography and social networking sites based on the conceptualizations of internet gaming disorder

Abstract

Background: The problematic use of online gaming, social networking sites (SNS) and online pornography (OP) is an evolving problem. Contrary to the problematic use of SNS and OP, Internet gaming disorder (IGD) was included in the new edition of the Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (DSM-5) as a condition for further study. The present study adapted the criteria for IGD to the problematic use of SNS and OP by modifying a validated questionnaire for IGD (Internet Gaming Disorder Questionnaire: IGDQ) and investigating the psychometric properties of the modified versions, SNSDQ and OPDQ. Methods: Two online samples (SNS: n = 700, 25.6 ± 8.4 years, 76.4% female; OP: n = 700, 32.9 ± 12.6 years, 76.7% male) completed the SNSDQ/OPDQ, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the short Internet Addiction Test (sIAT) and provided information on their SNS/OP use. Standard item and reliability analyses, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and correlations with the sIAT were calculated. Problematic and non-problematic users were compared. Results: The internal consistencies were ω ordinal = 0.89 (SNS) and ω ordinal = 0.88 (OP). The exploratory factor analyses extracted one factor for both questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analyses confirmed the results. The SNSDQ/OPDQ scores correlated highly with the sIAT scores and moderately with SNS/OP usage time. Of the users, 3.4% (SNS) and 7.1% (OP) lay above the cutoff for problematic use. Problematic users had higher sIAT scores, used the applications for longer and experienced more psychological distress.

Prevalence of Problematic Pornography Use and Attitude Toward Pornography Among the Undergraduate Medical Students

“…The current study found 12.5% prevalence of problematic pornography use among participants. Mennig et al 19 found that 7.1% participants have problematic use of pornography. Dwulit et al 20 in a cross-sectional study among Polish University students found 12.2% prevalence of self-perceived pornography addiction.…”

Problematic pornography use and attitude toward pornography among medical interns

“…The reliability of the scale was 0.84. 15 This scale shows satisfactory psychometric property for the current study using Cronbach's alpha (0.74).…”

Self-Perceived Problematic Use of Online Pornography Is Linked to Clinically Relevant Levels of Psychological Distress and Psychopathological Symptoms

“…The tendency of SPP-OP use was assessed using the OPDQ. The OPDQ is a version of the Internet Gaming Disorder Questionnaire (IGDQ; Petry et al, 2014 ) that was modified to assess SPP-OP use (Mennig et al, 2020 ) and consists of nine items, with a dichotomous response format of “no” (0) and “yes” (1). The items are modelled on the DSM-5 criteria for IGD and a total score is calculated by adding the responses (score range: 0–9).…”

“…An example item is: “Do you feel that you should spend less time watching OP but are unable to cut back on the amount of time you spend watching OP?”. The psychometric evaluation indicated that this is a useful instrument for the questionnaire-based assessment of problematic use of OP (Mennig et al, 2020 ). The OPDG showed good internal consistency with ω ordinal = 0.88.…”

“…As mentioned above, no standardized criteria currently exist to identify a problematic use of OP. Thus, in this study we use a questionnaire that utilizes the official DSM-5 criteria for IGD to assess problematic use of online pornography—the Online Pornography Disorder Questionnaire (OPDQ; (Mennig et al, 2020 ; Petry et al, 2014 ). As this questionnaire is a self-report instrument and the assessment of the severity of the problem left exclusively to the respondents, we consider the term "self-perceived problematic OP use" (SPP-OP use) to be more appropriate than "problematic OP use" and will therefore use this term for our study.…”