Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor Analysis

BackgroundNomophobia or phobia of no mobile phone is the fear of being without a mobile phone or being unable to contact others via a mobile phone. It is a newly emerging psychiatric disorder among mobile phone users. ObjectiveThere are no psychometric scales available in China for exami...

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Main Authors: Gao, Ye, Dai, Hongliang, Jia, Guizhi, Liang, Chunguang, Tong, Tong, Zhang, Zhiyu, Song, Ruobing, Wang, Qing, Zhu, Yue
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2020-03-01
Series:JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Online Access:http://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/3/e13561/
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author Gao, Ye
Dai, Hongliang
Jia, Guizhi
Liang, Chunguang
Tong, Tong
Zhang, Zhiyu
Song, Ruobing
Wang, Qing
Zhu, Yue
author_facet Gao, Ye
Dai, Hongliang
Jia, Guizhi
Liang, Chunguang
Tong, Tong
Zhang, Zhiyu
Song, Ruobing
Wang, Qing
Zhu, Yue
author_sort Gao, Ye
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundNomophobia or phobia of no mobile phone is the fear of being without a mobile phone or being unable to contact others via a mobile phone. It is a newly emerging psychiatric disorder among mobile phone users. ObjectiveThere are no psychometric scales available in China for examining nomophobia, although China has become the largest mobile phone handset consumer market in the world. Therefore, this study aimed to translate the original English version of a psychometric scale into Chinese and further examine its reliability and validity among Chinese college students. MethodsThe original version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was first translated into Chinese using the backward and forward translation procedure. An exploratory factor analysis (a principal component analysis plus varimax rotation) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to examine the underlying factor structure of the translated questionnaire. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was determined by computing the Cronbach alpha coefficient, the test-retest reliability, and the corrected item-total correlation. A multivariate regression analysis was used for examining associations between nomophobia and independent variables among the college students. ResultsA total of 2000 participants were included in the study. Their ages ranged from 16 to 25 years, with 51.95% (1039/2000) being male participants. The Chinese version of NMP-Q retained 18 items. The eigenvalues, total variance explained, and scree plot jointly support a 4-factor structure of the translated questionnaire. The CFA reached the adaptive standard, and the discriminant validity of the scale was good. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of this scale was .925, and the Cronbach alpha coefficients of the subscales were .882, .843, .895, and .818. The test-retest reliability was 0.947. Corrected item-total correlation ranged from 0.539 to 0.663. The significant predictors for each of the dimensions of nomophobia and total score of the questionnaire were the average number of hours spent on a mobile phone daily and gender. ConclusionsThe Chinese version of the NMP-Q exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties.
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spelling doaj.art-c1167ac5aa6d43f2a3e48a343d070b872022-12-21T17:22:55ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR mHealth and uHealth2291-52222020-03-0183e1356110.2196/13561Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor AnalysisGao, YeDai, HongliangJia, GuizhiLiang, ChunguangTong, TongZhang, ZhiyuSong, RuobingWang, QingZhu, YueBackgroundNomophobia or phobia of no mobile phone is the fear of being without a mobile phone or being unable to contact others via a mobile phone. It is a newly emerging psychiatric disorder among mobile phone users. ObjectiveThere are no psychometric scales available in China for examining nomophobia, although China has become the largest mobile phone handset consumer market in the world. Therefore, this study aimed to translate the original English version of a psychometric scale into Chinese and further examine its reliability and validity among Chinese college students. MethodsThe original version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) was first translated into Chinese using the backward and forward translation procedure. An exploratory factor analysis (a principal component analysis plus varimax rotation) and a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were performed to examine the underlying factor structure of the translated questionnaire. The internal consistency reliability of the scale was determined by computing the Cronbach alpha coefficient, the test-retest reliability, and the corrected item-total correlation. A multivariate regression analysis was used for examining associations between nomophobia and independent variables among the college students. ResultsA total of 2000 participants were included in the study. Their ages ranged from 16 to 25 years, with 51.95% (1039/2000) being male participants. The Chinese version of NMP-Q retained 18 items. The eigenvalues, total variance explained, and scree plot jointly support a 4-factor structure of the translated questionnaire. The CFA reached the adaptive standard, and the discriminant validity of the scale was good. The Cronbach alpha coefficient of this scale was .925, and the Cronbach alpha coefficients of the subscales were .882, .843, .895, and .818. The test-retest reliability was 0.947. Corrected item-total correlation ranged from 0.539 to 0.663. The significant predictors for each of the dimensions of nomophobia and total score of the questionnaire were the average number of hours spent on a mobile phone daily and gender. ConclusionsThe Chinese version of the NMP-Q exhibited satisfactory psychometric properties.http://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/3/e13561/
spellingShingle Gao, Ye
Dai, Hongliang
Jia, Guizhi
Liang, Chunguang
Tong, Tong
Zhang, Zhiyu
Song, Ruobing
Wang, Qing
Zhu, Yue
Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor Analysis
JMIR mHealth and uHealth
title Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor Analysis
title_full Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor Analysis
title_fullStr Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor Analysis
title_short Translation of the Chinese Version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire and Its Validation Among College Students: Factor Analysis
title_sort translation of the chinese version of the nomophobia questionnaire and its validation among college students factor analysis
url http://mhealth.jmir.org/2020/3/e13561/
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