The Validity and Reliability of the Serbian Version of the Smartphone Addiction Scale – Short Version

Abstract Background: In recent years, the need for validated and reliable questionnaires for different applications could be observed throughout scientific literature. To add to this trend, we translated into Serbian the Smartphone Addiction Scale-Short Version (SAS-SV) and tested it for its psychometric properties. This study's main aims were to test the Serbian version of the SAS-SV's internal consistency and reliability and estimate smartphone addiction prevalence among medical students. Methods: The study was conducted in December 2018 on a representative sample of third-year medical students. The cross-cultural adaptation was performed following the well-established guidelines for cross-cultural adaptation of self-reported measures. For test-retest reliability, students filled the questionnaire twice, within seven days. Results: The Serbian version of SAS-SV showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.89) and excellent reliability for test-retest scores (ICC = 0.94, 95% CI = 0.92-0.96). Factor analysis supported the extraction of one factor, which explained 51,5% of the variance. To explore construct validity furthermore, SAS-SV was correlated with time indicators of smartphone use. According to cut-off values for the SAS-SV score, 19.5% of students could be regarded as “addicted” and often spent more time on smartphones and social networks on working days and weekends than “not addicted” students. Conclusion: The SAS-SV in the Serbian version is a reliable and valid instrument for detecting smartphone addiction among university students. Further research on this issue is encouraged to enable a better understanding of this ever-increasing public health issue.