Validation of the Persian version of the Instagram Addiction Scale among Iranian students

. Background: The increasing use of social networking sites (SNSs) globally has brought about significant changes in individuals’ daily lives and interpersonal relationships. Instagram is one of the most popular SNSs and has played an important role in these changes. While most individuals’ use of Instagram has beneficial effects, there have been some studies suggesting that Instagram use can be addictive for a small minority of users. Therefore, valid and reliable tools are needed to investigate this phenomenon . Method: The present study tested the psychometric properties of the 15-item Persian version of the Instagram Addiction Scale (IAS) among Iranian students. Confirmatory factor analysis and convergent validity were used to evaluate scale validity, and Cronbach's alpha and test-retest methods were used to evaluate the reliability. The sample comprised 660 students, including 476 women (72.1%) and 184 men (27.9%). The mean age of the total sample was 23.7 years. Results: Cronbach’s alpha coefficients were 0.87 for the whole scale, 0.74 for the social effect subscale and 0.84 for the compulsion subscale. Correlation coefficients obtained from divergent validity with psychological well-being and life satisfaction scales were significant. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the Persian IAS is a reliable and valid instrument for assessing the risk of Instagram addiction among Iranian students.


Introduction
Social networking sites (SNSs) are a type of social media that can be used to communicate with a large number of individuals and bring many benefits to its users (Huang & Su, 2018). For instance, SNS users can use the platforms for professional/occupational purposes, making friends, sharing common interests, and entertainment (Khalili, 2015). There are many SNSs including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Flickr, Snapchat and Instagram (the latter being the focus of the present study).
Instagram is an image-based SNS created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger and launched in October 2010 (Omnicore, 2020). This SNS is an environment for sharing personal photos and videos that allows users to take and filter photos and share them with followers who can 'like' and comment on them (Kim, Sally & Jung, 2017) Over time, new formats (e.g., Instagram Stories and Instagram Live) have been added to enhance the user experience, and this diversity has made Instagram more engaging and (on average) gets more interactions per post than Facebook and Twitter (Casalo, Flavian & Ibanez-Sanchez, 2017;Socialbakers, 2018). Therefore, Instagram is one of the fastest, and most popular SNSs among young adults, with more than 59% of its users between the ages of 18 and 29 years (Alhabash & Ma, 2017). Based on other reports, 71% of adults aged 18-29 years in the United States use Instagram and 87% of users are from countries outside the US (Omnicore, 2021).
The few studies examining Instagram addiction have reported a negative relationship with academic performance and a positive relationship with shyness and loneliness (e.g., Ponnusamy, Iran Manesh, Foroughi & Hyun, 2020). It also has a negative relationship with acceptance, conscientiousness and selfishness which are components of personality (Kircaburun & Griffiths, 2018). Moreover, a study by D' Souza and Hemamalini (2018) found that Instagram addiction among students was associated with depression, mental health problems, and interpersonal problems. Jovic, Corac and Ignjatovic-Ristic (2019) also reported that there was a positive and significant relationship between the symptoms of depression, anxiety and stress and Instagram addiction. In Iran, despite the widespread use of Instagram, no studies have been carried out, although there are studies examining online addictions more generally (e.g., Forooghi et al, 2019;Shahbazi & Torkian Tabar, 2019;Hadi et al, 2014).
One of the reasons for the lack of research in this area in Iran is the lack of validated psychometric tools to assess the risk of Instagram addiction. Various tools have been developed to assess Instagram addiction and its various aspects, including the 15-item Instagram Addiction Scale (IAS-15;Kircaburun & Griffiths, 2018), the 20-item Instagram Addiction Scale (IAS-20;Sholeh & Rusdi, 2019, and the 34-item Instagram Addiction Test (IAT;Souza, Sami Yukta & Be Vera, 2018). Validation and reporting of IAS psychometric properties has also been carried out in several countries (Zarenti et al., 2021;Pekpazar, Aydin, Aydin, Beyhan & Ari, 2021). Therefore, the present study evaluated the psychometric properties of the IAS-15 among Iranian students.

Participants and Procedure
The sample initially comprised 681 students from two universities in Mashhad using a multi-stage cluster sampling method consisting of four stages. After removing surveys that had missing data (n=21), the final sample size was 660 participants. From the two universities, one faculty was randomly selected from each university (all random sampling at each stage was carried out using a lottery). Then two educational courses were randomly selected from each faculty were selected, and four classes from each course across three levels (Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate) were also randomly selected. The survey was completed online.

Measures
Instagram Addiction Scale (IAS): The IAS (Kircaburun & Griffiths, 2018) comprises 15 items based on the Internet Addiction Scale (Young, 1998) and was used to assess the risk of Instagram addiction. Items (e.g., "How often do you try to cut down the amount of time you spend on Instagram and fail?") are rated on a six-point scale from 1 (never) to 6 (always) with scores ranging from 15 and 90. The cut-off points are defined as: no addiction (15-37), mild addiction (58-38), moderate addiction (73-59), and severe addiction (more than 73). The psychometric properties of the IAS are presented in the Results section.
Basic Psychological Needs Scale (BPNS): The BPNS (Guinea, 2003) comprises 21 items and was used to assess basic psychological needs. The scale comprises three subscales (i.e., independence, competency and relationship). Items (e.g., "In my daily life I often have to do what I am told") are rated on a seven-point scale from 1 (not true at all) to 7 (absolutely true). A higher score on each subscale indicates a higher level of satisfying basic psychological needs required. In the present study the Cronbach's alphas were 0.87 for basic needs, 0.70 for independence components, 0.68 for competency, and 0.72 for relationship.
Psychological Well-being Scale (PWS): The PWS (Ryff, 1989(Ryff, , revised 2002 comprises 18 items and was used to assess psychological wellbeing. The scale comprises six factors: independence, mastery of the environment, personal growth, positive communication with others, purpose in life, and self-acceptance. Items (e.g., "Maintaining intimate relationships is difficult for me and I feel frustrated") are rated on a sixpoint scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 6 (strongly agree). The sum of the scores of these six factors is calculated as the overall score of psychological well-being. Psychometric properties of the original version have been reported optimally (Ryff & Singer, 2002). In the present study, the Cronbach's alpha was 0.71 for the total scale. For the subscales, the alphas were 0.69 for independence, 0.73 for mastery of the environment, 0.70 for personal growth, 0.66 for positive communication with others, 0.65 for purpose in life, and 0.78 for self-acceptance.
Single-Question Life Satisfaction Scale: This measure (Sharifi Fard et al., 2022) comprises the single question: "How do you evaluate your life these days?" rated on an 11-point scale from 0 (overall worst condition) to 10 (overall best condition).

Statistical Analysis
Descriptive indicators such as means and standard deviations were used to analyze the data and statistical methods such as confirmatory factor analysis, divergent validity and Cronbach's alphas were used to examine the validity and reliability of the developed scale.

Structural validity (confirmatory factor analysis)
The psychometric properties of the 15-item scale were examined, the results of its reliability and validity are presented below. Factor analysis was used to determine the Construct validity and the results of which are presented in Figure 1. The two components (social effect and compulsion) with the main structure (IAS) had a suitable factor load. In addition, the value of the obtained RMSEA index indicated a proper fit of the model (0.041). Because this index was lower than 0.08 and the p-value is significant at the level of 0.05, so the fit of the model was good. The ratio of chi-square to the degree of freedom was 1.96, which is significant at the level of 0.01. Other model fit indices also were good (IFI= 0.97, CFI= 0.95, GFI= 0.95, values above 0.9 indicate a goodness of fit). The results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that eight items with social effect component and seven items with compulsion had appropriate factor load (factor loads of all items were above 0.4 and were significant at the level of 0.01). Also, the results of confirmatory factor analysis showed that the social effect and compulsion have a significant relationship with the main structure (Validated coefficients are significant at the level of 0.01). To examine the divergent validity, the relationship between the Instagram Addiction Scale score and the Psychological Well-being Scale, life satisfaction, and basic psychological needs was used. The results are presented in Table 1.  The results of Table 1 show that the correlation coefficients between the dimensions of social effect and compulsion and the overall score of the Instagram Addiction Scale with life satisfaction, well-being, and basic psychological needs were all significant (p<0.01). Considering that the relationship between the dimensions and the overall score of the Instagram Addiction Scale with basic needs, well-being, and life satisfaction were negative and significant, the divergent validity of the IAS was confirmed. The reliability of the scale with its dimensions were also calculated (Cronbach's alpha). The results are presented in Table 2. The results in Table 2 show that Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the whole IAS was 0.87 and 0.74 for the social effect dimension and 0.84 for the compulsion dimension. The correlation coefficients by the test-retest reliability were 0.76 for social effect, 0.81 for compulsion and 0.71 for the whole scale, which shows that the IAS has good reliability. The means and standard deviations for each dimension and the whole IAS among males and females were calculated separately (see Table 3). The results in Table 3 show the means and standard deviations of the scale and its dimensions among males and females. There were no significant differences in the overall score and dimensions of Instagram addiction among males and females (p> 0.05). in the present sample, the rate of response to each item was determined, the results of which are presented in Table 4. The results of Table 4 show that based on the predetermined cut-off scores, approximately 2.1% of individuals had no risk of addiction to Instagram, 23.2% had a mild addiction risk, 53% had moderate addiction risk, and 21.7% had a severe addiction risk.

Discussion
Over the past decade, the consequences associated with the problematic use of social media have been examined empirically (Kuss & Griffiths, 2017). Some of these studies generally focus on the problematic use of social media more generally (e.g., Wegmann et al., 2015;Kircaburun et al, 2018;Bonyaei et al, 2017)  The examination the psychometric properties of the Instagram Addiction Scale (IAS) showed that the scale is valid and reliable in assessing students' addiction risk to Instagram. The Cronbach's alpha in the present study (0.87) was slightly lower compared to the original scale validation (0.90). The correlation coefficients by the test-retest reliability were 0.76 for social effect, 0.81 for compulsion and 0.71 for the whole scale. Also, the results obtained from the study of fit indices indicated the fit of an acceptable model of the IAS. Therefore, the psychometric properties of the Instagram Addiction Scale are consistent among Iranian participants and in line with the validation of this scale in other studies (Kircaburun & Griffiths, 2018;Zarneti et al., 2021;Pekpazar, Aydin, Aydin, Beyhan & Ari, 2021) The criterion validity of the Instagram Addiction Scale was assessed divergently using the Psychological Well-Being Scale, Life Satisfaction, and Basic Psychological Needs Scale. The results showed that there was a significant negative correlation between the risk of Instagram addiction and psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and basic psychological needs. Findings from various studies on the relationship between Instagram addiction in particular and social media addiction more generally with psychological well-being and life satisfaction are in line with the present study (De Lenne, Vandenbosch & Eggermont, 2018;Valkenburg et al, 2006;Cardak, 2013;Casale, Lecchi & Fioravanti, 2014;Bozoglan et al, 2013). The results of some studies also have also reported the lack of a direct relationship between social media addiction and life satisfaction (e.g., Allhabash et al, 2014;Park & Lee, 2014;Apaolaza et al, 2013;Valkenburg et al, 2006).
In order to explain the results obtained from the relationship between social media addiction and well-being and life satisfaction, previous research findings suggest several things. First, there are important differences between different types of social network platforms, which causes differences in the use of these networks and as a result, the effects of each have been different. Among the existing social networks, Instagram may be potentially more attractive and addictive to some users than other social network platforms because it provides more opportunities to share images and videos and use different filters to make changes to users' images. Also, the 'Instagram Stories' feature may also facilitate more habitual use (Al-Yafi et al., 2018). Therefore, the use of Instagram is more focused on introducing and promoting individuals themselves rather than building and maintaining relationships (Dumas et al, 2017).
The second is the difference between active and passive use of social networking sites. During active use, users actively and directly interact with the content of other users (Verduyn et al, 2017) which has a positive and significant relationship with well-being and life satisfaction (Myers, 2000) because this interaction creates and increases social communication. Individuals become inactive, but inactive use, in which users view other individuals' content without interaction, may not be as useful (Verduyn et al, 2017).
The third is the role of social comparison and envy in the impact of addiction on social networks and its association with well-being and life satisfaction. The results of studies in this field show that among users who experience social comparison and envy, there is a negative association between problematic and addictive use of social networks (such as Instagram) with well-being and life satisfaction. Because individuals in social networks are constantly exposed to the positive characteristics of others, which arouses the desire for social comparison and envy in people with a tendency to social comparison, and also reduces positive emotional experiences. (Muise et al, 2009;De Vries et al, 2017;Krasnova et al, 2013;Chou & Edge, 2012;Fox & Moreland, 2015).
The results of the prevalence of Instagram addiction showed that 21.7% were severely addicted to Instagram based on the cut-off used. These figures suggest that the cut-off is too low and not differentiating addicted and non-addicted Instagram users. Reports concerning the prevalence of social media addiction generally report much lower prevalence estimates. For example, a study by Kircaburun and Griffiths (2018) reported that only 0.9% had severe addiction to Instagram using the same scale as the one used in this study. Also based on a self-report survey 37% to 40% of US adults young claimed they were addicted to social media (Statista, 2019). Another study with Chinese students reported 12% to be addicted to social media (Wu, Cheung, Ku & Hung, 2013). Olowu and Seri (2012) surveyed 884 students in Nigeria and reported 27% as addicted to social media.
In a meta-analysis of 63 independent samples from 32 countries, Cheng et al. (2021) reported a prevalence rate of 5% for social media addiction when using the strictest (monothetic) cut-off criteria. According to the results of this meta-analysis, SNS addiction in collectivist societies is higher than in individualistic societies. Members of individualistic cultures may be largely exposed to internal demands (e.g., mood swings) to use social media, while collectivist cultures may be subject to internal and external demands (e.g., group norms) that may increase their vulnerability to social media addiction. In addition, members of collectivist (as opposed to individualistic) cultures are more likely to use social media to gain social support, peer satisfaction, and consensus (Chen & Kim, 2013;Cheng Et al, 2021).
The reasons for the high rate of Instagram addiction among Iranian students may be explained from several perspectives. For instance, Iranian culture is collectivist and a recent meta-analysis (i.e., Cheng et al., 2021) found that social media addiction was much higher in collectivist countries. Other psychosocial and cultural reasons may account for high intensity Instagram use. Iran lacks good recreational facilities and Instagram use provides ready access to entertainment. Iran has high unemployment rates and Instagram provides opportunities for internet-based businesses More specifically, the unemployment rate in Iran is high and this rate has increased in recent years with an increase in graduates. Therefore, many individuals spend a lot of time on Instagram in order to be able to advertise others' wares and services in the future by gaining more followers and to earning income from this. Also, due to the high use of Instagram by Iranians, many business owners, such as consultants or shopkeepers, need a lot of activity to gain followers to advertise on Instagram. Making friends and dating, especially among adolescents and young people, can be facilitated by Instagram. While such features are not unique to Iran, cultural and social limitations in Iran may mean that such features are more highly valued and/or used in Iran compared to other countries.

Conclusion, limitations, and future research
The present study has a number of limitations. The sample was young and comprised only university students from a limited number of universities. Therefore, the sample was not representative of all Iranian universities or the Iranian population more generally. Future research needs to be carried out with non-student samples and other age groups. Also, selfreport data, modest sample size, and measures demonstrating concurrent validity are other limitations of this study. Therefore, conducting research with other methods such as observation, large sample size with participants of different ages and subcultures, and using other measures is recommended. Based on the high prevalence estimate of Instagram addiction obtained in the present study, prevention, intervention, and treatment appear to be necessary for reducing it and its associated psychological consequences.