Translation and validation of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) in Italian language: Insights from factor analysis

IntroductionNomophobia is the fear of feeling disconnected and is considered a modern situational phobia.ObjectivesNo psychometric scales in Italian are available investigating nomophobia. Therefore, we planned a translation and validation study of the Nomophobia Questionnaire (NMP-Q) by Yildirim and Correia.AimsSubjects were recruited via an online survey using a snow-ball approach.MethodsNMP-Q was translated from English into Italian. To explore the factor structure, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was carried out. A principal component analysis (PCA) approach with varimax rotation was performed.ResultsFour hundred and three subjects volunteered to take part into the study. Age was 27.91 ± 8.63 y, 160 were males (39.7%) and 243 females (60.3%). 45 subjects used to spend less than 1 hour on their mobile (11.2%), 94 between 1 and 2 hours (23.3%), 69 between 2 and 3 hours (17.1%), 58 between 3 and 4 hours (14.4%), 48 between 4 and 5 hours (11.9%), 29 between 5 and 7 hours (7.2%), 36 between 7 and 9 hours (8.9%) and 24 more than 10 hours (6.0%). Eigen values and the scree-plot supported a 3-factorial nature of the translated questionnaire. NMP-Q showed a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of 0.95 (0.94, 0.89 and 0.88 for the three factors). The first factor explained 23.32% of the variance, the second and the third 23.91% and 18.67%, respectively. Further, the total score of NMP-Q correlated with the number of hours spent on the mobile, the age (beta-coefficient −0.33, P = 0.016) and sex (being higher among females).ConclusionsThe Italian version of NMP-Q proved to be reliable.