Background: The growing prevalence of Internet addiction and online gaming addiction (IA/OGA) among Indian adolescents calls for culturally sensitive and psychometrically sound assessment tools. Existing diagnostic scales lack parental insight and weak contextual relevance.
Objectives: This study aimed to develop and evaluate the validity and reliability of a dual-perspective tool, the Internet and Online Gaming Addiction Scale (IOGAS), with separate versions for adolescents and their respective parents.
Methods: Guided by Gratification Theory and General Strain Theory, items were constructed based on DSM-5 criteria, literature synthesis, and expert input from psychiatry, clinical psychology, sociology, cybersecurity, and computer science. A focused group of experts provided feedback to ensure content validity and item formation, which led to the formation of two questionnaires: Internet and Online Gaming Addiction Scale (for Adolescents) and Internet and Online Gaming Addiction Scale (for the Parents with respect to their ward). The scales were administered on 160 adolescents and their respective parents across five zones (North, East, West, South, and North-East) of India. Reliability and criterion validity of the tools were also calculated.
Results: Meta-analysis for item formation and content validity from experts was considered for item discrimination; further criterion validity was evaluated at α = 0.05 (r > 0.1593) and α = 0.10 (r > 0.1339). The majority of items showed statistically significant positive correlations with the total score (r > 0.1593), indicating strong correlations (r ≥ 0.60). Reliability analysis using Cronbach's Alpha revealed high internal consistency for both the adolescent version (α = 0.9) and parent version (α = 0.8), confirming the tool's robustness.
Conclusion: The IOGAS demonstrates strong validity and reliability and is a contextually appropriate instrument to assess internet and online gaming addiction in Indian adolescents from both self and parental perspectives.