Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale: Translation and validation in Greek

Background: The steadily increasing use of social media makes it a priority to measure in a valid way the problematic use of social media Aim: To translate and validate the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) in a sample of general population in Greece. Methods: We employed the forward-backward method to translate and adapt the BSMAS in Greek language. In particular, two scholars translated the English version of the BSMAS in Greek, and then two other scholars back translated the Greek version in English. Another scholar overviewed the translation procedure solving any discrepancies. We examined the reliability of the BSMAS by calculating Cronbach’s alpha. Also, we performed a test-retest study to examine the reliability of the BSMAS by calculating the intraclass correlation coefficient. We examined the construct validity of the BSMAS by performing confirmatory factor analysis. We examined the concurrent validity of the BSMAS using the TikTok Addiction Scale (TTAS). We employed ROC analysis to define an optimal cut-off point for the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale. Results: We found that the BSMAS had very good reliability since intraclass correlation coefficient for the test-retest was 0.968 (95% confidence interval = 0.961 to 0.975, p<0.001). Moreover, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for the BSMAS was 0.867. We found that the Greek version of the BSMAS had a one-factor structure as the original version. All indices indicated an acceptable one-factor model. In particular, x2/df was 1.216, RMSEA was 0.026, GFI was 0.991, AGFI was 0.973, TLI was 0.983, IFI was 0.992, NFI was 0.958, and CFI was 0.992. Concurrent validity of the Greek version of the BSMAS was very good since we found statistically significant correlation between the BSMAS and the TTAS (r = 0.864, p<0.001). We found that the best cut-off point for the BSMAS was 13. The area under the curve was 0.723, while the 95% confidence interval ranged from 0.690 to 0.755. Sensitivity and specificity of the BSMAS were 0.619 and 0.712 respectively (p<0.001). Conclusion: The Greek version of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale is a reliable and valid tool to measure levels of problematic social media in the general population.