Adaptation and Validation of the Spanish Version of the Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS)

Smartphone addiction is very prevalent among university students and can negatively impact both their physical and mental health. This study aimed to translate the smartphone application-based addiction scale (SABAS) into Spanish and evaluate its psychometric properties among Spanish university students. A total of 297 university students (222 women and 75 men) participated in this study (M age = 20.88, SD = 4.58) by completing a sociodemographic questionnaire, the smartphone addiction scale-short version, the depression, anxiety, and stress scale-21, the fear of missing out scale, and the SABAS. The SABAS was translated into Spanish using the forward-backward method. The factor structure was analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis, while reliability was assessed with Cronbach's alpha and McDonald's omega coefficients. The SABAS showed acceptable reliability (α = 0.72; ω = 0.73), and all of its items were kept. Factor analysis revealed that the Spanish version of the SABAS was unifactorial and demonstrated excellent validity (χ² = 10.285; p = 0.246; RMSEA = 0.034; CFI = 0.991; SRMR = 0.030). Significant associations were also observed between the SABAS score and the number of hours of smartphone use, fear of missing out, and psychological distress. Despite its brevity, the Spanish version of the SABAS provides good validity and reliability. Therefore, it can be used as a tool for screening smartphone addiction in Spanish university students.