Validity of the Malay version of the Internet Addiction Test: a study on a group of medical students in Malaysia.
The use of the Internet has been increasing dramatically over the decade in Malaysia. Excessive usage of the Internet has lead to a phenomenon called Internet addiction. There is a need for a reliable, valid, and simple-to-use scale to measure Internet addiction in the Malaysian population for clinical practice and research purposes. The aim of this study was to validate the Malay version of the Internet Addiction Test, using a sample of 162 medical students. The instrument displayed good internal consistency (Cronbach's α = .91), parallel reliability (intraclass coefficient = .88, P < .001), and concurrent validity with the Compulsive Internet Use Scale (Pearson's correlation = .84, P < .001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis showed that 43 was the optimal cutoff score to discriminate students with and without Internet dependence. Principal component analysis with varimax rotation identified a 5-factor model. The Malay version of the Internet Addiction Test appeared to be a valid instrument for assessing Internet addiction in Malaysian university students.
University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia chong_guan1975@yahoo.co.uk.
Ng Chong
NC
Guan
University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Saramah Mohammed
SM
Isa
University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Aili Hanim
AH
Hashim
University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Subash Kumar
SK
Pillai
University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Manveen Kaur
MK
Harbajan Singh
D000293:Adolescent; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008296:Malaysia / Q000453:epidemiology; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013337:Students, Medical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires / Q000592:standards*; D055815:Young Adult