VALIDATION OF THE PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES OF THE SOCIAL MEDIA ADDICTION QUESTIONNAIRE AMONG PAKISTANI UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

Abstract

This study assessed the psychometric properties of the Social Media Addiction Questionnaire (SMAQ) originally developed by Shahnawaz, M., & Rehman, U. (2020), within the context of a university student population. A cross-sectional design was employed, with data collected from 300 under-graduate students enrolled in public and private sector universities.  The data were subjected to robust statistical analyses. Reliability, assessed via Cronbach's alpha, demonstrated strong internal consistency for the full scale (α = 0.92). The six subscales (1) Salience (α = 0.807), (2) Mood Modification (α = 0.79), (3) Tolerance (α =0 .78), (4) withdrawal (α =0 .77), (5) Conflict (α = 0.79) and (6) relapse (α = 0.78) exhibited acceptable to high reliability, exceeding the conventional threshold. Furthermore, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was employed to verify the hypothesized six-factor structure. The results confirmed that all 20 items loaded significantly (p < 0.05) onto their respective latent constructs, with standardized factor loadings ranging from 0.75 to 0.91, all surpassing the recommended minimum value. The findings robustly support the conclusion that the adapted SMAQ is a psychometrically sound, reliable, and valid instrument for assessing social media addiction among the university student population in Pakistan. The validated scale can be effectively utilized in future research, screening, and intervention-based studies to better understand social media addiction and its academic and psychological consequences within the Pakistani cultural context.