Cross-validation of reliability, convergent and discriminant validity for the problematic online game use scale

The main purpose of the present study is to develop a measure of problematic online game use by identifying underlying factors and testing external validities of the scale. The authors tested the scale with the three age groups: 5th, 8th, and 11th graders. Through a series of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, the present study confirmed that the POGU scale produced reliable and consistent factorial structures across the independent samples. The results supported convergent validity of the scale: POGU showed significant correlations with academic self-efficacy, anxiety, loneliness, and satisfaction with daily life. The results also supported the discriminant validity. The POGU scale did not redundantly measure any of individual difference constructs and was statistically distinguishable from the closely correlated constructs. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.