Psychometric properties and measurement invariance across gender of the Chinese version of the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) among Chinese college students

Background: Smartphone addiction among college students is a common problem of concern, especially in China, and is associated with numerous psychological challenges. Nevertheless, a valid instrument to measure smartphone addiction in Chinese college students remains underdeveloped. Objective: To provide a valid research instrument for assessing smartphone addiction among Chinese college students, this study conducted a cross-cultural investigation by evaluating the psychometric properties of the Chinese Version of the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) and its measurement invariance across gender among Chinese college students. Methods: The SABAS was translated into Chinese using the forward-backward method and the Chinese version of the SABAS (SABAS-CV) was completed by 644 Chinese college students. A random selection of 80 college students was made from the total sample, and they were assessed twice with a one-month interval. The reliability of the SABAS-CV was analyzed through internal consistency and test-retest reliability, while the validity was assessed via content validity, structural validity, and convergent validity. Additionally, this study tested the measurement invariance of the SABAS-CV across gender. Results: The SABAS-CV demonstrated strong content validity, high internal consistency (α = 0.828 for sample 1, α = 0.856 for sample 2), and good test-retest reliability (ICC = 0.968, 95% CI: 0.952–0.977). Exploratory factor analysis revealed one component with eigenvalue (3.440) greater than 1, explaining 57.336% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis showed good model fit (χ2/df = 2.462, RMSEA = 0.054, SRMR = 0.029, CFI = 0.968, TLI = 0.956). The factor loadings of the 6 items ranged from 0.549 to 0.853, all exceeding 0.50, with the lower bounds of their confidence intervals also above 0.50. The SABAS-CV had a strong correlation with the Chinese version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (r = 0.715) and the SAS-CSV (r = 0.826). Measurement invariance test across gender demonstrated that the SABAS-CV was measurement invariant for male and female college students. Conclusion: The SABAS-CV serves as a valid instrument for assessing smartphone addiction in Chinese college students, indicating that the SABAS has high applicability in the Chinese cultural context.