Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale: a reliability generalization meta-analysis

Problematic smartphone use is a health problem associated with numerous negative variables whose prevalence has been increasing in recent years. The purpose of this work is to carry out a reliability generalization meta-analysis of the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) by means of which to estimate the reliability of this scale. A systematic search was performed in PsycINFO, Pubmed and Scopus and 31 studies that had applied SABAS and reported Cronbach's alpha were retrieved. A random effects meta-analysis was performed to estimate the reliability of the test. Heterogeneity was assessed using Cochran's Q and I-2 statistics. Potential moderating variables were examined by meta-regression and subgroup analysis. The combined reliability of the SABAS is alpha =.81, presenting no risk of publication bias. The country in which the studies were carried out turned out to be a moderating variable of the reliability of the studies analyzed. This meta-analysis shows how the SABAS has good internal consistency and is suitable for use with research purposes. The limitations of the study are presented.