Construction of the Risk of Addiction to Social Networks Scale (Cr.A.R.S.)

The purpose of this study is the construction and evaluation of the psychometric properties of an instrument that is capable of detecting the risk of addiction to social networks in adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18. For this reason, a conceptual definition of the construct was performed on the first stage of the study and a preliminary instrument (59 items) was developed based on the literature on addiction to new technologies. On the second stage, a pilot sample of 205 school students was considered. An exploratory factor analysis was performed in order to make a rigorous analysis of the theoretical and dimensional nature of the construct. On the third stage, the psychometric properties of the scale were verified along with 453 high school students ranging from third to fifth high school grades belonging to 7 high schools in the city of Lima Metropolitana, where the confirmatory factor analysis showed that the factor structure is good (RMSEA = .047, CFI = .91) and Cronbach's alpha coefficient were between .71 and .96 for both the dimensions and the global scale. The scale finally consisted of 43 items assessing 7 dimensions of addiction to social networks: loss of control, abstinence syndrome, decreased academic performance, mood modification, dependency, loss of interest in other activities and conflicts in the social sphere. We conclude that the instrument gives evidence of good internal consistency and construct validity.