Adaptation of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) to Spanish in a sample of adolescents

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Nomophobia is the fear of being out of mobile phone contact. People suffering from this anxiety disorder have feelings of stress and nervousness when access to their mobiles or computers is not possible. This work is an adaptation and validation study of the Spanish version of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q). METHODOLOGY: The study included 306 students (46.1% males and 53.9% females) with ages ranging 13 to 19 years (Md=15.41±1.22). RESULTS: Exploratory factor analysis revealed four dimensions that accounted for 64.4% of total variance. The ordinal α-value was 0.95, ranging from 0.75 to 0.92 across factors. Measure of stability was calculated by the testretest method (r=0.823). Indicators of convergence with the Spanish versions of the “Mobile Phone Problem Use Scale” (r=0.654) and the “Generalized Problematic Internet Use Scale” (r=0.531) were identified. Problematic mobile phone use patterns were examined taking the 15P, 80P and 95P percentiles as cut-off points. Scores of 39, 87 and 116 on NMP-Q corresponded to occasional, at-risk and problematic users, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Psychometric analysis shows that the Spanish version of the NMP-Q is a valid and reliable tool for the study of nomophobia.