Development and validation of an instrument for the assessment of internet use in the Indian context

BACKGROUND: Internet usage is increasing in the young population. Over 560 million internet users, India is the second-largest online market globally, which necessitates the development of an Internet use assessment tool in the Indian context. METHODS: Samples of 560 individuals aged from 16 to 40 years participated. Data were coded in excel sheet for STATA 14.0 analysis evolved to item response theory. Cronbach’s alpha was used to determine the internal consistency; concurrent validity was performed using the “Internet Addiction Test.” Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, confirmatory factor analysis, and Pearson’s correlation were also determined. RESULTS: The developed instrument has the Cronbach’s alpha reliability value (25 items) of 0.893, which indicates high internal consistency and has a concurrent value of 0.800. Factor analysis of 23 items revealed that the variance of 64.481 revealed all the items loaded in the rotated component matrix. The final 18 items got the item discrimination index was >1.0 with three-factor structure. CONCLUSION: The developed reliable and valid instrument can be used for identifying the patterns of internet usage across various settings (research, educational, mental health/clinical, and workplace).