The Phubbing Scale (PS-8) in the Portuguese population: psychometric properties

Phubbing is defined as ignoring other individuals by using a mobile phone during a face-to-face conversation. The Phubbing Scale (PS) was developed to assess this practice. In this study, we analyze the psychometric properties of the 8-item version of the PS (PS-8) in the Portuguese population, providing validity evidence based on internal structure and on relationships with other variables, and examining item properties, reliability, and measurement invariance across gender. Participants were 391 Portuguese adults (132 men, 259 women) who completed a battery of questionnaires. Confirmatory factor analysis yielded satisfactory goodness-of-fit indices for the two-factor structure (communication disturbance and phone obsession), which was invariant across gender. Item homogeneity and reliability of factor scores (McDonald's omega) were satisfactory. Validity evidence based on relationships with other variables was provided by positive associations with time spent on the Internet on weekdays and at the weekend, time spent on social networking sites, number of social networks used, Internet addiction, problematic mobile phone use, Facebook intrusion, fear of missing out, and depression. These associations show the addictive component of phubbing and its relationship with mental health. The PS-8 is a short and easy-to-administer scale with adequate psychometric properties for measuring phubbing in the Portuguese population. (AU)

Mediating effect of life satisfaction between child neglect and problematic mobile phone use of middle school students / 中华行为医学与脑科学杂志

Objective:To explore whether life satisfaction has a mediating effect between child neglect and middle school student’ problematic mobile phone use.Methods:Totally 1 692 middle school students from four middle schools of Xiamen in June 2020 were selected by cluster stratified sampling.The self-rating questionnaire for adolescent problematic mobile phone use (SQAPMPU), child neglect scale (CNS) and quality of life scale for children and adolescents (QLSCA) were used for the survey. SPSS 23.0 software was used for descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, regression analysis and the mediating effect analysis.Results:The scores of CNS, QLSCA and SQAPMPU were (24.45±14.28), (134.44±19.34), (23.20±8.94)respectively.And the detection rate of problematic mobile phone use was 23.6%. There were significant differences in the scores of SQAPMPU scale in different grades, father's education degrees, mother's education degrees and monthly pocket money(all P<0.05). In SQAPMPU, high school students scored significantly higher than junior school students( t=-2.403, P=0.016), adolescents with undergrate education of their father and mother scored the lowest( F=3.411, P=0.017; F=2.729, P=0.043), adolescents with monthly pocket money of "500-1 000" and "1 000-2 000" scored significantly higher than those with monthly pocket money of "under 500". The total scores and sub scores of child neglect were significantly positively correlated with the total scores and sub scores of problematic mobile phone use ( r=0.177-0.360, all P<0.05). The total scores and sub scores of life satisfaction were significantly negative correlated with the total scores and sub scores of problematic mobile phone use ( r==-0.508--0.250, all P<0.05). Child neglect had a positive predictive effect on problematic mobile phone use ( t=15.598, R2=0.130, P<0.05), but had a negative predictive effect on life satisfaction ( t=-27.798, R2=0.321, P<0.05). There were the part intermediary role of life satisfaction between child neglect and problematic mobile phone use( t=-13.937, R2=0.222, P<0.05), and the mediating effect accounted for 58.29% of the total effect. Conclusion:The neglected experience in childhood of adolescents not only can directly affect problematic mobile phone use, but also can affect the problematic mobile phone use by affecting life satisfaction.