Assessment of the SABAS cutoff point based on studies in problematic smartphone use

Introduction The SABAS is a single-factor measure of problematic smartphone use, with higher scores indicating a potential addictive tendency. Some researchers (Peng et al., 2023) suggest a cutoff point of 23 out of a maximum available score of 36. Other researchers consider a high mean a guideline without suggesting a possible threshold. This score will indicate the presence of the problematic factor under investigation, regardless of age. Objectives Our study aims to identify a score for problematic smartphone use that may already indicate vulnerability to addiction. The research investigates the proposal of a possible cutoff point for problematic smartphone use based on several SABAS surveys over 9 years. Methods In our research, 1228 participants completed four online surveys between 2015 and 2023. The age distribution was 9-73 years, with 41.2% male and 58.8% female. Our research instrument was the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (Csibi et al., 2018) questionnaire, a 6-question questionnaire designed to detect problematic smartphone use. We hypothesized that SABAS scores that show a significant relationship with cutoff scores of clinical questionnaires with convergent validity (NMP-Q, SPAI, SHAI, FNPQ) could be as cutoff scores within the measure. Results Our results showed a significant correlation between SABAS and NMP-Q scores ( r (238) = .63, p = .001), with the mean of the moderate-severity nomophobia score (88.5 points) being the mean of the SABAS 23 score. For the response distribution corresponding to the NMP-Q prevalence of severe nomophobia (100 points or more), the SABAS score mean was 29 points. The mean scores on the SPAI questionnaire were 85.82 ( SD =22.76) and 97.17 ( SD =31.65), respectively, for the subscales Functional Impairment 22.47 ( SD =8.41) and 27.29 ( SD =9.59), Compulsive Behaviour 29.48 ( SD =9,03) and 34.41 ( SD =11.64), Withdrawal 21.77 ( SD =6.41) and 23.41 ( SD =8.55), and Tolerance 12.10 ( SD =3.61) and 12.05 ( SD =4.64). The correlation was also evident for the SHAI ( r (439) = .67, p = .001), its subscales, and the FNPQ scale ( r (398) = .27, p = .001). Conclusions The mean SABAS score indicating problematic smartphone use was 23 points, with scores above this point indicating increasingly severe use of analyzed behavior. Those with a score of severe nomophobia scored 29 or higher on the SABAS scale. The SABAS shows a significant relationship with the cutoff scores of the convergent validity questionnaires along the mean scores indicated above (23,29), so we suggest using these scores as cutoffs. Disclosure of Interest None Declared