Cultural Adaptation and Psychometric Evidence of the Phubbing Scale

Abstract

Abstract Phubbing, the act of ignoring people during a face-to-face interaction to dedicate attention to the smartphone, is a phenomenon widely observed in today’s society. Therefore, this research aimed to carry out the cross-cultural adaptation of the Phubbing Scale to Brazilian Portuguese and examine its psychometric properties. The study included 1,551 Brazilian adults, 61.7% female and 29.9% male, aged from 18 to 76 years (M = 31.6 years; SD = 9.6 years). A socio-demographic questionnaire and the Phubbing Scale were used. Exploratory Factor Analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Network Analysis and Mann-Whitney Test were performed. The results confirmed the bifactorial version of the Phubbing Scale with good fit indices (CFI = 0.99; TLI = 0.99; α = 0.83). The Phubbing Scale showed adequate psychometric properties and internal consistency for use in Brazil.

Keywords

• psychometrics
• behavior
• smartphone
• communication