Psychometric properties of the compulsive internet use scale among adolescents in India, Philippines and Turkey

Research shows that internet addiction continues to grow globally, with wider access to the internet and changing use of smartphones. The compulsive internet use scale (CIUS) which has been found to be consistently associated with pathological internet use, is widely considered a measure for prolonged and problematic internet use. CIUS had been translated and adapted in several countries with reports of good reliability. However, to our knowledge this is the first study that examined the psychometric properties of the CIUS scale in three countries who share similar collectivistic attitudes and are a part of growing economies. This link was shared widely amongst young adults (aged 18–25 years), and a total of 837 participants completed the questionnaires. They completed the CIUS scale alongside a measure for escapism and self-esteem. These additional self-reports were added to assess the construct validity of the CIUS. The results from this study confirms the single factor structure of the CIUS as the best fit for this scale, this single factor solution was found for all the three countries. Similarly, high scores of internal reliability were observed for samples in India, Philippines and Turkey. We further found the CIUS to positively correlate with scores of escapism in the Turkish sample only. Taken together these results suggest that the CIUS is an effective measure regardless of country of residence, whilst highlighting the underlying differences in escapism that may need further attention.