Psychometric Evaluation of the Persian Version of Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire

The Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire (PIUQ) is a scale for evaluating the adverse effects of high Internet usage. It was adopted into Persian in a previous study. The factorial structure of the adopted version was different from the original English version. The purpose of this study was to determine the factorial structure of the Persian version of the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire.

In this methodologic study, sampling was carried out in students of Iran University of Medical Sciences, University of Tehran, and Sharif University of Science and Technology. A total of 428 students completed the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire. Exploratory factor analysis was performed using SPSS. Confirmatory factor analysis was carried out using AMOS. The reliability of the Scale was determined using Cronbach’s alpha coefficient (α=0.89).

Exploratory factor analysis showed four factors including online preoccupation, adverse effects, social interactions, and excessive use. The mean ± SD of the domains was 2.12±0.81, 2.01±0.86, 2.18±0.85 and 2.39±0.97 for online preoccupation, adverse effects, social interactions, and excessive use, respectively.

The exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the Persian version of the Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire had a relatively similar structure with the English version. One dimension of the questionnaire was split to two new dimensions. This questionnaire can be a useful tool for measuring problematic behaviors related to the excessive use of the Internet.