Generalizing computerized adaptive testing for problematic mobile phone use from Chinese adults to adolescents

The number of mobile phone users worldwide has increased in recent years. As people spend more time on their phones, negative effects such as problematic mobile phone use (PMPU) have become more pronounced. Many researchers have dedicated their efforts to developing the questionnaires and revising the tools to more accurately evaluate PMPU. Previous studies had demonstrated that CAT-PMPU for adults could significantly enhance measurement accuracy and efficiency. However, most of the items in this scenario was developed for adults, and there were notable differences between adults and adolescents, making some items potentially unsuitable for the latter. Thus, this study aimed to generalize the CAT-PMPU adult version to make it suitable for both adult and adolescent populations. A total of 740 Chinese adolescents and 980 Chinese adults participated in this study, completing online or paper-pencil questionnaires. Empirical data was then used to simulate CAT-PMPU, and the measurement efficiency, accuracy and reliability were compared between adults and adolescents in different stopping rules. The results showed that generalized CAT-PMPU in this study had promising measurement efficiency and accuracy, which was consistent with adult version. In conclusion, the CAT-PMPU developed in this study not only exhibited satisfactory test reliability but also emerged as a novel technical support for evaluation of PMPU in both adolescent and adult populations, which demonstrated the potential applicability in practice.