AUTHOR=Abdoli Nasrin , Farnia Vahid , Alikhani Mostafa , Sadeghi-Bahmani Dena , Dürsteler Kenneth M. , Esmaeili Maryam , Brühl Annette , Brand Serge 

TITLE=Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the 21-Item Game Addiction Scale With a Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.649276

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2021.649276

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Excessive gaming has become a psychological health issue for both gamers and their social environments. This observation holds true for western but also non-western countries such as Iran. The aim of the present study was to translate and validate a Persian version of the Game Addiction Scale 21 (GAS 21) using a sample of adolescents and adults.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> A total of 412 participants (mean age: 22.16 years; 55.3% females) took part in the study. They completed questionnaires covering sociodemographic information and gaming-related information, as well as the Persian version of the GAS 21, the GAS 7, the Internet Addiction Test, and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> Of the initial 21 items of the Persian version of the GAS 21, five proved redundant and were eliminated. Factors analyses yielded four factors explaining 66.35% of the variance: 1. Withdrawal; 2. Feelings of guilt and addiction; 3. Mood modification; 4. Issues of time budget. Cronbach's alphas were satisfactory (alphas &gt; 0.87). To validate the results, scores on the translated version were compared with the well-established Young Internet Addiction test. Factors correlated positively (rs between 0.21 and 0.31) with overall score on this latter test but, against expectations, positively with the generalized self-efficacy scale.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> A Persian version of the Game Addiction Scale-21 proved to be a useful tool for assessing the risk of game addiction behavior. Further, the solution with 16 items loading on four factors appears respond to the ecological need of parsimony.</p>