State phubbing: The establishment and validation of a new scale

The pilot state phubbing scale was adapted from Karadağ et al. [1] phubbing scale (see Appendix). Karadağ et al. [1] phubbing scale consists of eight items rated on a scale from 1 (never) to 5 (always). After the initial piloting of the adapted scale with several friends and relatives, the rating of the pilot scale was changed from 1 (never) to 5 (always) to 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Data for this study were collected using TypeForm. Participants were invited via a combination of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Participants were considered eligible for inclusion in the study if they were 18 years and over and owned/used a smartphone. Participants' agreement to participate was sought through an information sheet. Fifty-five (55) participants completed the pilot survey. This sample size was considered appropriate given the aim of the study was to assess the reliability of the pilot scale. After dropping two items from the scale, a Cronbach's Alpha of .693 was achieved and none of the remaining six items correlated with each other. The developed state phubbing scale consisted of six items rated on a scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). Data for the validation of the developed state phubbing scale were collected using Google Forms. Participants were also invited using Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Participants were considered eligible for inclusion in the study if they were 18 years and above and owned/used a smartphone. Participants' agreement to participate in the survey was sought through an information sheet. Hundred and forty-four (144) participants completed the survey. After dropping two items from the scale, a Cronbach's Alpha of .745 was achieved and none of the remaining four items was correlated with each other. The scale has a mean of 12.86 and standard deviation of 3.93. The remaining four items are: (1) Right now, I feel a need to interact with my friends via my smartphone. (2) Right now, I feel more inclined to check my smartphone than to interact with others. (3) As soon as I finish this survey, I will use, or continue to use, my smartphone. (4) When my smartphone is not with me I feel I am missing something. Reference Karadağ, E., Tosuntaş, Ş., Erzen, E., Duru, P., Bostan, N., Şahin, B., Çulha, İ., Babadağ, B. (2015). Determinants of phubbing, which is the sum of many virtual addictions: A structural equation model. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. 4, 60-74