The Digital Addiction Scale for Children: Development and Validation
Fonte: Mary Ann Liebert, Inc del 12/12/2019
Pubblicato il 07/01/2020
È un fatto ormai conclamato che nella società moderna l'uso di dispositivi digitali, come smartphone, tablet, TV e videogiochi, sia sempre più diffuso tra le nuove generazioni, già a partire dalla tenera età. Di conseguenza, l'esigenza di una diagnosi precoce del rischio di dipendenza digitale tra i bambini sta diventando quanto più necessaria. Nel presente studio che proponiamo, è stata sviluppata e validata una scala psicometrica (Digital Addiction Scale for Children - DASC) in grado di valutare il comportamento dei bambini dai 9 ai 12 anni associato all'uso dei dispositivi digitali, tra cui videogiochi, social media e messaggi di testo.
Abstract
Researchers worldwide have developed and validated several scales to assess various forms of adults’ digital addiction. The urge for some of these scales found support in World Health Organization’s inclusion of gaming disorder as a mental health condition in its eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases in June 2018. Additionally, several studies have shown that children are starting to use digital devices (DDs) (e.g., tablets and smartphones) at a very young age, including playing video games and engaging in social media. Consequently, the need for early detection of the risk of digital addiction among children is becoming more of a necessity. In the present study, the Digital Addiction Scale for Children (DASC)—a 25-item self-report instrument—was developed and validated to assess the behavior of children 9 to 12 years old in association with DD usage, including video gaming, social media, and texting. The sample comprised 822 participants (54.2 percent males), from grade 4 to grade 7. The DASC showed excellent internal consistency reliability (a = 0.936) and adequate concurrent and criterion-related validities. The results of the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the DASC fitted the data very well. The DASC paves the way to (a) help in early identification of children at risk of problematic use of DDs and/or becoming addicted to DDs and (b) stimulate further research concerning children from different cultural and contextual settings.