Testing Measurement Invariance in Media Psychological Research

Media psychology increasingly focuses on comparative research questions by comparing media use and media effects across different populations and across time. Such comparisons require that the constructs of interest be measured in the same way across populations - that is, invariant measures are required. However, this methodological issue has rarely been addressed in media psychology. In this article, we explain the concept of measurement invariance and illustrate how measurement invariance can be established to compare media use and media effects across populations and over time.