Psychometric Validation of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale: Relationship With Adolescents' Demographics, ICT Accessibility, and Problematic ICT Use

Compulsive Internet usage is on the rise in developing countries such as India. To date, no tested, validated, and verified instrument for measuring compulsive Internet use among Indian adolescents has been made available. In order to bridge this gap, our present study has examined the psychometric properties of the English version of the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (CIUS) with 2,381 adolescent Internet users (aged 12-19) in India. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted to examine the factorial and construct validity, reliability, and homogeneity of the English version of the CIUS. Relationships between adolescents' CIUS scores, demographics, Information and communication technologies (ICT) accessibility, and problematic ICT use were also examined. The study results confirm that the CIUS has good psychometric properties, high internal reliability, and homogeneity and is a valid self-reporting instrument for measuring compulsive Internet use. The present study reveals the same factor structure as the earlier studies using the CIUS in other languages. Finally, we found that male and older adolescents experience higher compulsive Internet use compared to female and younger adolescents, while compulsive Internet users experience lower life satisfaction, lower academic performance, and problematic ICT use including Internet, mobile, and online gaming.