Developing the Cyberostracism Scale and Examining its Psychometric Characteristics

This study aims to develop the Cyberostracism Scale (CS) to assess university students ’ perceptions of virtual social exclusion. Validity and reliability studies were carried out with 3 different groups (N = 692; %69 women). In the developing process of the scale, EFA, CFA, Item Response Theory (IRT), and criterion-related validity and reliability (Cronbach’sα, McDonald ’sω, and test-retest) analyses were used. EFA results indicated that the CS has a 3-dimensional structure (Direct Excluded, Indirect Excluded, Ignored) which explains 55.74% of the total variance. The CFA results showed that the 3-factor structure of the scale had an acceptable level of fit indices and had a measurement invariance across gender. IRT analysis showed that all items of the scale were coherent and fit with the model. The results indicated that the scale had satisfactory reliability coefficients. The cyberostracism was found to be associated with the ostracism. Results of the study show that the CS is a valid and reliable measurement tool.
Source: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction - Category: Addiction Source Type: research