French validation of the 7-item Game Addiction Scale for adolescents

• Gaetan Sophie
• Bonnet Agnès
• Bréjard Vincent
• Cury François

• Psychometric properties
• Adolescents
• Game Addiction Scale

Introduction: The Game Addiction Scale (GAS: Lemmens, Valkenburg, & Peter, 2008, 2009) is a shortinstrument (7-item) for evaluating video game playing by adolescents. Objective: The aim of the current research was to investigate the psychometric properties of a French version of the 7-item Game Addiction Scale for adolescents. Method: Two studies were conducted with two samples of French adolescents between the ages of 10and 18 (study 1: n = 159; study 2: n = 306). First, we examined the factor structure and internal consistency.Second, we added a concurrent validity analysis with estimation of the daily time spent playing videogames and an assessment of depression and anxiety. Results: In both studies, the factor analysis revealed a one-factor structure that had good psychometricproperties and fit the data well. The analysis also confirmed good internal consistency of the scale. Corre-lation analysis in the second study showed that the GAS score had significant positive relationships withthe time spent playing video games, depression, anxiety, and the fact of being a boy, thereby supportingthe concurrent validity of the scale. Conclusion: This French version of the GAS seems to be a reliable tool for identifying and assessingproblematic use of video games.