The validity and reliability of the Hungarian version of smartphone addiction scale – Short version (SAS-SV-HU) among university students

Abstract

The Smartphone Addiction Scale Short Version (SAS-SV) is a widely used tool for examining smartphone addiction, but its Hungarian validation has not been available yet. The purpose of this research is the adaptation of the SAS-SV in Hungarian among university students. A total of 456 university students aged between 18 and 31 years (M_age = 21.9, 74.6% female) participated in this cross-sectional study. We performed a test-retest evaluation with a convenience sample of 50 university students to examine the reliability of the questionnaire. The participants completed the questionnaire twice, 3 weeks apart. The online survey comprised four sections: (a) sociodemographic, (b) mobile phone usage habits, (c) the SAS-SV adapted into Hungarian (SAS-SV-HU), and (d) The Brief Smartphone Addiction Scale (BSAS). The reliability of the SAS-SV-HU was evaluated by internal consistency reliability and test-retest reliability, and the validity of the SAS-SV-HU was evaluated by structural, convergent, and discriminant validity. The internal consistency was assessed by Cronbach's alpha coefficient, which showed a good level of internal consistency (α = 0.79). The test–retest reliability of the SAS-SV-HU questionnaire was excellent (ICC = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.922–0.975, p < 0.001). The modified model was showed acceptable fit indices, where the CMIN/df 2.546; χ² 78.912, p < 0.001, RMSEA 0.058 (90% CI 0.042–0.074) TLI 0.931, CFI 0.952, SRMR 0.046. The SAS-SV-HU scale significantly correlated with the BSAS score (p < 0.001, r_s = 0.666) and the mean time spend on smartphones (p < 0.001, r_s = 0.233). The results showed that the SAS-SV-HU is a reliable and valid tool for assessing the smartphone addiction of Hungarian university students.