Validity and Reliability Study of Digital Addiction Scale for the Turkish Youth (DASY)

Abstract

Digital addiction has emerged as one of the major problems faced by individuals in today's world. Accurate identification of this issue is critical to creating effective solutions. Accordingly, this study carried out the validity and reliability process of developing a Digital Addiction Scale for the Youth (DASY). The study consisted of item pool generation, expert review, pilot testing, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and factor naming. From an initial pool of 42 items, the scale was finalized with 23 items and three sub-factors. The results of the EFA revealed that the scale explains 61.72% of the total variance. The internal consistency coefficient was found to be high (alpha(DASY) = .946), and the scale demonstrated sufficient validity. CFA results confirmed the structure (chi(2)/df = 1.72, p < 0.001, RMSEA = 0.044, SRMR = 0.054, NFI = 0.891, CFI = 0.951, GFI = 0.915). The factors were named "Compulsive Use," "Escape-Oriented Use," and "Functional Impairment." DASY provides a valid and reliable tool for evaluating the digital addiction levels of youth in accordance with current and cultural contexts.