Adaptation and psychometric properties of an Arabic version of the smartphone addiction scale (SAS) in the context of Saudi Arabia

Background: The growing accessibility to smartphones has raised concerns about addictive patterns associated with these technologies. A Smartphone Addiction Scale has been developed to assess individuals' smartphone addiction. However, the psychometric properties of the Smartphone Addiction Scale are scarce in the context of Saudi Arabia. Aims: This study aimed to translate and adapt the Smartphone Addiction Scale (SAS) to Arabic and examine the psychometric properties of the Arabic scale in the context of Saudi Arabia. Methods: Forward and backward translations were performed on the English SAS, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2016). The translated version was initially administered to 20 students in a pilot study. In the full study, a sample of 624 participants (52.5% females, mean age = 25 years) responded to questionnaires containing SAS, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the Smartphone ApplicationBased Addiction Scale. The survey was sent via online platforms in order to reach as many and diverse participants as possible. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were conducted. Results: The EFA resulted in a structure of six factors and the CFA indicated that the 6-factor model (daily disturbance, positive anticipation, withdrawal, cyberspace-oriented relationships, overuse, and tolerance) had a good fit in Saudi Arabia (CFI = 0.92, TLI = 0.90, RMSEA = 0.04, SRMR = 0.04). The scale was also gender invariant and exhibited adequate reliability and convergent and concurrent validity. Conclusions: The SAS is a reliable and valid measure that can be used to assess smartphone addiction in Saudi Arabia.