Further Evidence for the Psychometric Properties of Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT): A Study on a Sample of Israeli-Arab Male Adolescents

Abstract

Objectives: In this study, we assessed the psychometric properties of the Hebrew version of the 20-item Internet Addiction Test (IAT). Methods: We had 180 Israeli-Arab male adolescents ranging in age from 12 to 16 (M = 13.92, SD = 1.42) complete the IAT and report their pornography viewing habits, their physical activity rate, and their grades at school. Results: We used exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to determine the tool's structure, resulting with one-factor and 2-factor solutions both accounting for at least 50% of the variance explained by the models (using EFA). Upon dropping item 12 and items 12 and 15 from the one-factor model and the 2-factor model, respectively, the models demonstrated adequate psychometric properties (.73 ≤ α ≤ .94) and fitted fairly with the data (using CFA). The IAT scores correlated significantly with concurrent reports of the participants' pornography viewing, grades at school, and physical activity rate, reinforcing the tool's construct validity. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that the IAT is a valid and reliable instrument for measuring Internet addiction among literate Israeli-Arab male adolescents for whom Hebrew is their second language and, presumably, other Israeli adolescents for whom Hebrew is the native language.

The Six-Item Version of the Internet Addiction Test: Its Development, Psychometric Properties, and Measurement Invariance among Women with Eating Disorders and Healthy School and University Students

“…The IAT scores range between 0 and 100 [25,33]. Scores below 30 indicate normal use, and higher scores indicate IA, which can be mild (31)(32)(33)(34)(35)(36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43)(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49), moderate , and severe (80-100) [25]. Its reliability in this sample is excellent (Cronbach's alpha = 0.99).…”

“…The IAT has been translated and validated into more than 20 languages other than English [ 25 ], including French [ 28 , 29 , 30 ], Spanish [ 31 ], Finnish [ 32 ], German [ 33 , 34 ], Italian [ 26 , 35 ], Polish [ 36 ], Turkish [ 37 ], Arabic [ 27 , 38 ], Greek [ 2 ], Romanian [ 6 ], Hebrew [ 39 ], Chinese [ 40 ], Indonesian [ 41 ], Malay [ 7 ], etc. However, there is less agreement on its construct structure.…”

“…Meanwhile, in some studies, the one-factor structure displays poor fit compared with a two-factor structure [ 6 , 28 , 31 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ]. In few instances, the one-factor structure comparably fits data same as the alternative two-factor model [ 26 , 39 ]. A bifactor structure is reported to account for the high correlations between two extracted factors [ 5 ].…”

“…Interestingly, one study reported better fit for a one-factor solution based on all 20 items of the IAT than a well-fitting three-factor solution based on 18 items (after excluding item 5 and item 7) [ 41 ]. In some studies, the best fitting models were produced by removing up to three items [ 18 , 31 , 39 , 41 ] while some studies reported fitting models based on fit indices expressing values out of the acceptable range [ 6 , 35 ].…”

“…However, studies using EFA in combination with more robust methods such as confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) report consistency of results of EFA with CFA indicators of the best fitting structures of the IAT [ 6 , 30 , 35 , 41 ]. CFA also uncovered failure of several items to contribute to any underlying latent factor structure [ 18 , 31 , 34 , 39 , 41 ], necessitating the need to revise the item structure of the IAT. In addition, the IAT is largely validated among adolescents, university students, and healthy young adults [ 25 , 41 , 43 ].…”