Structural Validity of the Diagnostic Interview for Internet Addiction Scale for Clinical Samples in Korean Children and Adolescents: Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis

Abstract

Objective

This study aimed to validate the reliability and validity of the Diagnostic Interview for the Internet Addiction Scale (DIA) among Korean children and adolescents in the clinical setting.

Methods

We collected the clinical data from university hospitals in South Korea and 194 children and adolescents (aged 7–18 years) completed the questionnaire. The content validity was conducted on 10 items of the DIA and an internal consistency test was performed for the verification of reliability.

Results

Participants on average, aged 13.17 years (standard deviation=2.46), and 75.3% (n=146) were boys. The DIA was highly correlated with the scores of the Korean scale for Internet addiction for adolescents, Young’s Internet Addiction Test, Internet addiction proneness scale for children and adolescents. The overall sampling suitability of the 10-item scale was tested using the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin, resulting in a high value of 0.861. The DIA revealed a two-factor structure and the Cronbach’s alpha correlation coefficient for the total scale was 0.806. Confirmatory factor analysis showed an acceptable model fit (root-mean square error of approximation=0.058, comparative fit index=0.950, and Tucker-Lewis Index=0.919).

Conclusion

The DIA may suggest in-depth-scale examinations of the factors that influence Internet addiction. We may expect that DIA would be used efficiently for the diagnosing of Internet addiction and further studies for the assessment.