Cogent Mental Health · Published 2025-03-07 · DOI 10.1080/28324765.2025.2476528
This study assessed the psychometric properties of an Arabic-translated version of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS) using a confirmatory factor analysis with maximum likelihood estimation. It also examined the associations between depression, stress, and compulsive Facebook use (CFU) measured by the newly created BFAS in a sample of young adults from the United Arab Emirates. Participants (n = 484) completed the BFAS and measures of stress and depression. The BFAS produced a unidimensional factor structure and the data adhered to some, but not all, indices of acceptable model fit, providing preliminary evidence of its validity and reliability. A total of 17.4% of the sample reached the polythetic threshold while 4.9% scored above the monothetic cut-off score indicative of CFU. CFU was positively associated with stress and depression. Depression significantly moderated this association of stress with CFU. The Arabic BFAS holds promise as a valid and reliable measure of CFU, but this determination should be considered preliminary. Moderation results also suggest that Facebook use may serve as a means of mood modification for individuals who experience stress, and this appears to occur uniformly across varying levels of depression.
Abstract from DOAJ. Public domain (CC0 1.0).
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