Development and validation of the smartphone addiction risk children questionnaire (SARCQ)

Smartphone abuse interferes with all activities in daily life. Young people who tend to have a smartphone addiction (SA) also have social, familiar and academic problems. Furthermore, smartphone provides immediate access to communication as well as avoids experiencing social anxiety. This research aims to evaluate the factorial structure of Smartphone Addiction Risk Children Questionnaire (SARCQ), a specific questionnaire created to assess the risk of SA in primary school children (8-11 years). An exploratory factor analysis before and a confirmatory factor analysis after were performed in order to establish the factorial structure of the questionnaire. Results showed a two-factor structure explaining 49.30% of total variance. The outstanding dimensions are: “I’m not afraid with you” (INAWY) and “Linus blanket” (LB). SARCQ will be useful to assess the risk of SA in childhood in order to operate early effective therapeutic interventions.