Psychometric Properties and Demographic Correlates of the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version Among Chinese Children and Adolescents in Hong Kong

Nearly all children and teens in Hong Kong own a smartphone. There is currently no validated instrument that measures whether they use their phone too much. This study tested the psychometric properties of a translated Chinese version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) and examined the demographic correlates of smartphone addiction among Hong Kong children and adolescents. A total of 1,901 primary school children and secondary school pupils were recruited from 15 Hong Kong schools. Furthermore, 1,797 primary caregivers were asked to complete a self-administered questionnaire on their socioeconomic status and educational attainment. The study used exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to identify the factor structure of SAS-SV for half the participants (n = 951), while confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to assessed the goodness-of-fit of EFA models for the remaining half (n = 951). Spearman correlations were used to assess the convergent validity of the SAS-SV, taking account of time spent by subjects on phones per day, the Smart Device Addiction Screening Tool (SDAST), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale for Children (CES-DC). EFA generated a three-factor model (with factors labeled dependency, the incidence of a problem, and time spent). CFA confirmed this model yielded an acceptable goodness-of-fit (Comparative Fit Index = 0.96, Tucker Lewis Index = 0.95, and root-mean-square error of approximation = 0.06). SAS-SV was positively correlated with SDAST (rho = 0.59), PSQI (rho = 0.29), and CES-D (rho = 0.35), and negatively correlated with MSPSS (rho = -0.10). A linear regression model showed that female adolescents, those with highly educated caregivers and those who spent more time using smartphones on their holidays, had on average higher SAS-SV scores, meaning they showed greater vulnerability to becoming addicted. The study found that SAS-SV is a valid scale for estimating excessive smartphone use among Hong Kong children and adolescents.