Profiles of problematic social networking site use: A cross-cultural validation of a scale with Spanish and Mexican adolescents

Abstract

In recent years, increasing interest in social networking site (SNS) use has resulted in a large body of research examining addiction to SNSs. The aim of this study was to cross-culturally validate a Spanish adaptation of the Problematic Social Networking Site Use Scale (PSNUS) based on the General Problematic Internet Use Scale (GPIUS-2) and to stablish profiles by using latent profile analysis (LPA) to compare the proportion of problematic use between Spanish and Mexican adolescents. The sample was composed of 1,534 Spanish and Mexican students (55.0% girls) 15–17 years of age. Confirmatory factor analysis and the invariance of the PSNUS were examined; the scale displayed good structural validity and achieved full metric invariance. The PSNUS demonstrated good reliability indexes, convergent, discriminant, and criterion validity with respect to the number of days the participants used an SNS, the duration of use, and GPIUS-2 dimension scores. LPA based on the five PSNUS dimensions revealed the existence of five profiles: among them, a clear non-problematic user group that comprised 44.6%; an at-risk group that comprised 13.2% of the sample; and a clear problematic user profile making up 2.9% of the sample. This study provides validation of the PSNUS for two Spanish-speaking countries; it may be used as an alternative to the prevailing component model of addiction to SNS use.

Keywords

• social networking sites
• problematic social networking site use
• cross-cultural study
• emotion regulation
• adolescence