Psychometric Properties of a Turkish Version of the Nomophobia Scale (NMP-Q) for the 9–18 Age Group

INTRODUCTION: Background: As situational phobia, nomophobia is the fear experienced in the absence of a cell phone. Nomophobia leads to situations that negatively affect children’s health.
Objective: The aim is to conduct validity and reliability studies for the Turkish version Nomophobia Scale.

METHODS: Methods: The study was conducted with volunteer students from three secondary schools and two high schools whose parents’ approval was acquired. Expert opinions, a pilot study, and calculation of validity and reliability stages were applied. For data analysis, the Shapiro-Wilk normality test, content validity index, Pearson correlation analysis, Cronbach’s alpha coefficient, confirmatory factor analysis, explanatory factor analysis, and t-tests were used.
RESULTS: Results: This study included 818 voluntary child participants. Of the participants, 56.7% were girls. In all, 91.5% of participating children were connected to the Internet on their mobile phones, and 67.2% had their own computer. The age range of participants was 9-18 years, and the average age was 14.1±2.32 years. The scale accounts for 57.8% of the total variance. Cronbach’s alpha for the whole scale was identified as 0.90. As a result of confirmatory factor analysis, the factor coefficient was over 0.30, and the fit indices were over 0.90.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Conclusions: The Turkish version of the NMP-Q is reliable and valid for the 9-18 age group.