Palanichamy Thamilselvan, Sharma Manoj Kumar, Chandra Prabha S, Kandavel Thennarasu
Department of Psychology, PSG College of Arts and Science, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India.
Department of Clinical Psychology, National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India.
Ind Psychiatry J. 2023 Jan-Jun;32(1):120-129. doi: 10.4103/ipj.ipj_14_21. Epub 2022 Sep 22.
Internet usage is increasing in the young population. Over 560 million internet users, India is the second-largest online market globally, which necessitates the development of an Internet use assessment tool in the Indian context.
Samples of 560 individuals aged from 16 to 40 years participated. Data were coded in excel sheet for STATA 14.0 analysis evolved to item response theory. Cronbach's alpha was used to determine the internal consistency; concurrent validity was performed using the "Internet Addiction Test." Descriptive statistics, analysis of variance, confirmatory factor analysis, and Pearson's correlation were also determined.
The developed instrument has the Cronbach's alpha reliability value (25 items) of 0.893, which indicates high internal consistency and has a concurrent value of 0.800. Factor analysis of 23 items revealed that the variance of 64.481 revealed all the items loaded in the rotated component matrix. The final 18 items got the item discrimination index was >1.0 with three-factor structure.
The developed reliable and valid instrument can be used for identifying the patterns of internet usage across various settings (research, educational, mental health/clinical, and workplace).
互联网在年轻人群中的使用正在增加。印度拥有超过5.6亿互联网用户，是全球第二大在线市场，这就需要在印度背景下开发一种互联网使用评估工具。
560名年龄在16至40岁之间的个体参与了样本。数据在Excel表格中编码，用于STATA 14.0分析，并发展为项目反应理论。使用Cronbach's alpha来确定内部一致性；使用“网络成瘾测试”进行同时效度分析。还确定了描述性统计、方差分析、验证性因素分析和皮尔逊相关性。
所开发的工具（25个项目）的Cronbach's alpha可靠性值为0.893，表明内部一致性高，同时效度值为0.800。对23个项目的因素分析显示，64.481的方差表明所有项目都加载在旋转成分矩阵中。最终的18个项目的项目鉴别指数>1.0，具有三因素结构。
所开发的可靠且有效的工具可用于识别不同环境（研究、教育、心理健康/临床和工作场所）下的互联网使用模式。
