Abstract
This study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Japanese version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) in Japanese youths and to examine the factors underlying smartphone overuse. The data were collected from 1037 Japanese-speaking youth (631 males and 406 females aged 15 to 24 years). Factor analysis showed six factors with factor loading ranging from 0.42 to 0.72 for the Japanese version of the SAS. Cronbach’s alpha was 0.94 for the 33 items on this scale. The scale showed good reliability for test–retest scores (intraclass correlation coefficient3,1 = 0.92). Multiple linear regression analyses showed that the factors related to smartphone overuse were female gender, long smartphone usage duration, poor mental health, contact with virtual friends, and being a smartphone zombie (using a smartphone while walking and not paying attention to one’s surroundings). Communication with family and real friends was not associated with smartphone overuse. Thus, this scale was shown to be reliable and valid for Japanese youth. The scale has many potential uses, including serving as a self-rated check index, early detection of problematic use of smartphones, and measuring clinical change in smartphone overuse.
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All the authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Yuichiro Otsuka and Yoshitaka Kaneita. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Yuichiro Otsuka and all the authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The ethical standards in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki were followed. This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Nihon University School of Medicine.
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Otsuka, Y., Kaneita, Y., Itani, O. et al. The Japanese Youth Version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale Among the Youth in Japan: Reliability and Validity Assessment. Int J Ment Health Addiction 21, 292–307 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00594-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00594-z