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ABSTRACT
Introduction: The mobile phone is among the technological tools with the greatest presence in the market. During a period of scarcely 10 years, it has gone from being almost non-existent to being the device most used (and desired) by adolescents. Its physical characteristics as well as the psychological processes involved in its use explain both the fascination it elicits and the abuse or dependence it can come to provoke or encourage in adolescents. This study entailed the development and evaluation of a questionnaire designed to evaluate dependence on the mobile phone.
Materials and methods: The items included in this instrument were developed based on criteria contained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition-Text Revision (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000) for dependence disorder. The questionnaires were administered to a total of 2,486 adolescents aged 12-18 years of age, and factor analyses were then performed.
Results: The questionnaire is characterised by good psychometric properties as well as by the ability to discriminate between sexes and among age groups in an adolescent sample. The factors comprising this instrument are congruent with the concept of dependence as defined in the DSM-IV-TR. The process by which this questionnaire was developed is described, and the final version of the questionnaire is presented.
Conclusion: The Test of Mobile Phone Dependence (TMP) is a questionnaire built taking into account the dependence criteria of DSM-IV-TR. The process by which this questionnaire was developed is described, and the final version of the questionnaire is presented.
Key words: Addiction; mobile dependence; mobile phone; questionnaire; adolescence; sex differences.
INTRODUCTION
The mobile phone is among the most prominent kinds of information and communications technology (ICT) and is probably also the one that has shown the most spectacular development during the past few years with regard to technological innovations, social impact, and general use by the majority of the population.
One of the groups in which the increase in mobile-phone use has been the most significant is adolescents, not only because virtually all adolescents have one of these devices but also because the mobile phone acquires much greater relevance in adolescence than it does in other developmental stages (namely youth, adulthood, or older age). The mobile phone has many attributes and characteristics that...