Media multitasking scale: validation study with Portuguese adolescents

Luísa Campos; Bárbara Nobre; Catarina Morais; Lurdes Veríssimo; Pedro Dias; Jiutong Luo

doi:10.3390/socsci14030187

Media multitasking scale: validation study with Portuguese adolescents

Luísa Campos, Bárbara Nobre, Catarina Morais, Lurdes Veríssimo, Pedro Dias^*, Jiutong Luo

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

The increasing presence of digital media has amplified the need to study media multitasking (both multiple media activities simultaneously and using media while doing non-media activities). Media Multitasking Scale (MMS) has been used to assess this phenomenon, but it is yet to be validated for a Portuguese population. This study analysed the validity of a Portuguese Version of the MMS (n = 171 Portuguese adolescents) based on inter-item correlations and confirmatory factor analysis. The results suggest changes in the original version to reflect more recent digital media tendencies for a better fit to the Portuguese adolescents’ sample. Additionally, results showed that Multitasking with Media and Non-Media and Concentration Without Multitasking were partially predictors of mental health problems (predictive validity), highlighting the scale’s utility in assessing media multitasking behaviours and their impact on psychological well-being.

Original language	English
Article number	187
Number of pages	12
Journal	Social Sciences
Volume	14
Issue number	3
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030187
Publication status	Published - 19 Mar 2025

Keywords

Media multitasking
Psychometrics
Adaptation
Youth
Digital media

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116588248Final published version, 624 KBLicence: CC BY

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/52797Licence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Media multitasking scale: validation study with Portuguese adolescents",

abstract = "The increasing presence of digital media has amplified the need to study media multitasking (both multiple media activities simultaneously and using media while doing non-media activities). Media Multitasking Scale (MMS) has been used to assess this phenomenon, but it is yet to be validated for a Portuguese population. This study analysed the validity of a Portuguese Version of the MMS (n = 171 Portuguese adolescents) based on inter-item correlations and confirmatory factor analysis. The results suggest changes in the original version to reflect more recent digital media tendencies for a better fit to the Portuguese adolescents{\textquoteright} sample. Additionally, results showed that Multitasking with Media and Non-Media and Concentration Without Multitasking were partially predictors of mental health problems (predictive validity), highlighting the scale{\textquoteright}s utility in assessing media multitasking behaviours and their impact on psychological well-being.",

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AU - Nobre, Bárbara

AU - Morais, Catarina

AU - Veríssimo, Lurdes

AU - Dias, Pedro

AU - Luo, Jiutong

PY - 2025/3/19

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Media multitasking scale: validation study with Portuguese adolescents

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Media multitasking scale: validation study with Portuguese adolescents

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