Vicio en Instagram: propiedades psicométricas de la Escala Bergen de Adicción al Instagram

Abstract

The present paper aimed to adapt to the Brazilian context the Bergen Instagram Addiction Scale (bias), gathering evidence of its validity —factorial, convergent, and concurrent— and reliability, and to verify the parameters of the individual items —difficult and discrimination—. Participants were 217 Instagram users (Mage = 22.04; sdage = 6.63; 73.7 % women). The results indicated the unidimensionality of the measure, such that the items presented high and very high discrimination, demanding low or moderate level of the latent trait to be endorsed and covered a wide range of theta. Furthermore, Instagram addiction was positively related to psychological distress (e.g., depression, stress, and anxiety). Additionally, the total score of bias predicted the use of this social media platform (e.g., time spent on Instagram and the frequency of posts). In general, the results demonstrated that bias is a short and efficient measure to operationalize Instagram addiction, enabling studies that aim to explore its antecedents and consequences.