Validity and Reliability of the Persian Version of Social Media Disorder Scale in Iranian Students

The present study aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Social Media Disorder (SMD) scale in Iranian students. This research adopted a descriptive-analytical evaluation approach. The study sample consisted of 404 students from Tehran Province during the academic year 2021-2022, selected through the convenience sampling method. The students completed questionnaires on social media disorder, internet addiction, and self-esteem. The psychometric properties of the social media disorder scale were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis, divergent validity, concurrent validity, Pearson's correlation, and Cronbach's alpha coefficient in R software version 4.1 at a significance level of 0.05. In the confirmatory factor analysis of the Social Media Disorder (SMD) scale, a nine-factor structure was confirmed (CFI = 0.99, RMSEA = 0.03). When examining concurrent and divergent criterion validity, we found that the correlation between the SMD scale and the Internet Addiction Scale was positively significant, indicating a strong relationship between the two constructs. Furthermore, the study found a negative and significant correlation between social media disorder and self-esteem. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the overall SMD scale score was 0.94, while the coefficients for its dimensions ranged from 0.74 to 0.92, demonstrating acceptable reliability. The findings confirm the construct validity of the SMD scale and its multidimensional structure, which allows it to effectively diagnose social media disorder among Iranian students.