Mediated effects of insomnia in the association between problematic social media use and subjective well-being among university students during COVID-19 pandemic

Recently, the use of social media has penetrated many aspects of our daily lives. Therefore, it has stimulated much debate and polarisation regarding its impact on mental well-being. The present study investigated the association between problematic use of social media, subjective well-being, and insomnia's potential mediator. A proportionate random sample was collected from a Univerity in Algeria between March and April 2020.The participants (n=288; mean [SD] age = 20.83 [2.13]) involved 101 (35.1%) males. Nearly three-fourths of the participants (n=214; 74.3%) used up more-than three hours daily surfing on social media. Their mean (SD) score was 15.64 (4.80) on the Bergan Social Media Addiction Scale, 16.19 (9.15) on the Arabic Scale of Insomnia, and 28.13 (7.90) on the overall subjective well-being. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed an indirect correlation between problematic use of social media and the overall subjective well-being of users. Similarly, the indirect but not direct effects were found for the overall subjective well-being subdomains. Moreover, all SEM models have a satisfactory fit with the data. Based on the results, it can be concluded that insomnia appears to play an important role in mediating the association between subjective well-being and problematic social media use. This suggests the importance of tackling the issues of insomnia and problematic use of social media for university students. It also has important implications in dealing with the misuse of social media, especially during the covid-19 pandemic.

Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties of the Arab Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) by Item Response Theory Modeling (IRT)

INTRODUCTION

The psychometric properties of the Arab translation of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) have been previously studied by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with AMOS software using the asymptotically distribution-free (ADF) estimator. Unidimensionality has been achieved at the cost of correlating several item variance errors. However, several reviews of SEM software packages and estimation methods indicate that the option of robust standard errors is not present in the AMOS package and that ADF estimation may yield biased parameter estimates. We therefore explored a second analysis through item response theory (IRT) using the parametric graded response model (GRM) and the marginal maximum likelihood (MML) estimation method embedded in the LTM package of R software. Differential item functioning (DIF) or item bias across subpopulations was also explored within IRT framework as different samples were investigated. The objective of the current study is to (1) analyze the Arab CIUS scale with IRT, (2) investigate DIF in three samples, and (3) contribute to the ongoing debate on Internet-use-related addictive behaviors using the CIUS items as a proxy.

METHODS

We assessed three samples of people, one in Algeria and two in Lebanon, with a total of 1520 participants.

RESULTS

Almost three out of every five items were highly related to the latent construct. However, the unidimensionality hypothesis was not supported. Furthermore, besides being locally dependent, the scale may be weakened by DIF across geographic regions. Some of the CIUS items related to increasing priority, impaired control, continued use despite harm, and functional impairment as well as withdrawal and coping showed good discriminative capabilities. Those items were endorsed more frequently than other CIUS items in people with higher levels of addictive Internet use.

CONCLUSIONS

Contrary to earlier ADF estimation findings, unidimensionality of the CIUS scale was not supported by IRT parametric GRM in a large sample of Arab speaking participants. The results may be helpful for scale revision. By proxy, the study contributes to testing the validity of addiction criteria applied to Internet use related-addictive behaviors.

Evaluation of psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the Internet Disorder Scale (IDS-15)

The internet in modern society has impacted individuals of all ages, especially youth. Over the past 25 years, internet has become increasingly accessible, affordable, and available to a large proportion of individuals worldwide. Despite the clear advantages the internet has brought, adverse effects including potential disordered internet use have been noted among a minority of users. This has led to an increase in the development of screening instruments and numerous validation studies in many countries. Although Arabic is spoken in 25 countries worldwide, little research has been carried out, probably because there is a lack of Arabic instruments assessing problematic internet use. The present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the Arabic version of the 15-item Internet Disorder Scale (IDS-15). A cross-sectional study was conducted among 327 active internet users (35.5 % male; mean age = 21.49 years [SD = 3.06]) using a pen-and-paper-based survey. All participants completed the IDS-15, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS). The concurrent validity of the Arabic IDS-15 was satisfactory as its total score was significantly correlated with scores on the BSMAS (standardized coefficient [β] = 0.382), time spent online (β = 0.310), time spent on social media (β = 0.368), time spent on sleep (β = -0.176), and SWLS score (β = -0.281). The internal consistency indicated good internal reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the factor structure of the IDS-15. The Arabic version IDS-15 is a psychometrically sound and robust instrument for assessing internet disorder due to its excellent concurrent validity, good reliability, and satisfactory construct validity.