Development and validation of the Problematic Media Use Measure: A parent report measure of screen media “addiction” in children
Open accessAbstract
Although problematic media use among adolescents is of wide interest, less is known regarding problematic media use among younger children. The current study reports on the development and validation of a parent-report measure of one potential aspect of children's problematic use-screen media addiction-via the Problematic Media Use Measure (PMUM). Items were based on the nine criteria for Internet Gaming Disorder in the DSM-5. The first study describes the development and preliminary validation of the PMUM in a sample of 291 mothers. Mothers (80.8% identified as White) of children 4 through 11 years of age completed the PMUM and measures of child screen time and child psychosocial functioning. EFA indicated a unidimensional construct of screen media addiction. The final versions of the PMUM (27 items) and PMUM Short Form (PMUM-SF, 9 items) evidenced high internal consistency (Cronbach α = .97 and α = .93, respectively). Regression analyses were conducted to examine convergent validity of the PMUM with indicators of child psychosocial functioning. Convergent validity was supported and the PMUM scales also independently predicted children's total difficulties in functioning, over and above hours of screen time, indicating incremental validity. The second study sought to confirm the factor structure of the PMUM-SF and test for measurement invariance across gender. In a sample of 632 parents, we confirmed the factor structure of the PMUM-SF and found measurement invariance for boys and girls. These studies support the use of the PMUM-SF as a measure of screen media addiction in children ages 4 through 11 years old.
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The PMUM and PRIUSS are validated, reliable questionnaires that assess the level of problematic media symptomatology among school-aged children and teens, respectively.
“These tools are validated, reliable questionnaires that assess the level of problematic media symptomatology among school-aged children and teens, respectively.”
From Digital Ecosystems, Children, and Adolescents: Technical Report (2026) · cites this paper as [332]
The Discussion reports that the PMUM is a parent-report measure of problematic media use for children ages 4–11, and Study 1 Results support its reliability and validity. The paper does not evaluate the PRIUSS for teens; it lists the PRIUSS study in its References only. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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References 31 · Cited by 264
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Groves CL Blanco-Herrera JA Prot S Berch ON McCowen S Gentile DA 2015 Game and Internet Addiction After DSM-5 The Wiley Blackwell Handbook of Psychology, Technology and Society 502
- Valkenburg PM Krcmar M Peeters AL Marseille NM 1999 Developing a scale to assess three styles of television mediation: “Instructive mediation,” “restrictive mediation,” and “social coviewing” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 43 52 66
- Authors
- Domoff, S. E., Harrison, K., Gearhardt, A. N., Gentile, D. A., Lumeng, J. C., & Miller, A. L.
- Affiliations
- Central Michigan University (US)
- University of Michigan (US)
- Iowa State University (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Psychology of Popular Media Culture
- Published
- 2019-01
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 2-11
- ISSN
- 2160-4134 (ISSN-L)
- 2160-4142
- PMC
- PMC6411079
- OpenAlex
- W2770728189
- Cited by
- 264
- References
- 31
- Citations by year
- 2026: 73 · 2025: 66 · 2024: 31 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 3
- FWCI
- 24.21
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Psychology of Popular Media Culture (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (F32HD085684, R01HD061356)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Child Development and Digital Technology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Keywords
- problematic media use, children, parent report, internet gaming disorder, screen time, psychosocial functioning, measurement invariance, factor structure, scale development, short-form scale
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