Measuring Television Addiction

In an effort to discover a means of empirical distinction between normal and problem television viewing, 2 reliable measures of television addiction were created by writing items to reflect established criteria used in psychiatry for the detection of substance dependence. One measure contains 4 factors measuring distinct components of addictive behavior: heavy viewing, problem viewing, craving for viewing, and withdrawal. Supporting construct validity, these factors were positively related to an alcoholism screening instrument adapted to television use, and to television exposure. The second measure is reliable and unidimensional.