Psychometric evaluation of Persian Nomophobia Questionnaire: Differential item functioning and measurement invariance across gender

Abstract

Background and aims

Research examining problematic mobile phone use has increased markedly over the past 5 years and has been related to “no mobile phone phobia” (so-called nomophobia). The 20-item Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) is the only instrument that assesses nomophobia with an underlying theoretical structure and robust psychometric testing. This study aimed to confirm the construct validity of the Persian NMP-Q using Rasch and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) models.

Methods

After ensuring the linguistic validity, Rasch models were used to examine the unidimensionality of each Persian NMP-Q factor among 3,216 Iranian adolescents and CFAs were used to confirm its four-factor structure. Differential item functioning (DIF) and multigroup CFA were used to examine whether males and females interpreted the NMP-Q similarly, including item content and NMP-Q structure.

Results

Each factor was unidimensional according to the Rach findings, and the four-factor structure was supported by CFA. Two items did not quite fit the Rasch models (Item 14: “ I would be nervous because I could not know if someone had tried to get a hold of me ;” Item 9: “ If I could not check my smartphone for a while, I would feel a desire to check it”). No DIF items were found across gender and measurement invariance was supported in multigroup CFA across gender.

Conclusions

Due to the satisfactory psychometric properties, it is concluded that the Persian NMP-Q can be used to assess nomophobia among adolescents. Moreover, NMP-Q users may compare its scores between genders in the knowledge that there are no score differences contributed by different understandings of NMP-Q items.