Psychometric properties of the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) in Peruvian university students

The Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) is a brief tool that assesses the level of addiction exposure to smartphones. The purpose of the study was to examine the internal structure and reliability of this scale, applied to university students in Lima, with a sample of 463 university students, aged between 18 and 43 years (M=20.04; SD=3.29). The results show acceptable internal consistency indicators (α= 0.84; Ω= 0.84). In the fit indices of the confirmatory factor model revealed that the scale is unifactorial, showing adequate indicators (χ2/df=3.64, RMSEA = 0.07 [CI90%: 0.04-0.10], SRMR = 0.03, CFI = 0.99 and TLI = 0.99). It also showed positive and weak correlations with anxiety and depression symptoms of the PHQ-4 scale. The findings support the usefulness of the SABAS as a screening tool to assess smartphone addiction in the university context in Lima.