Measuring digital well-being in everyday life among Slovenian adolescents: The Perceived Digital Well-Being in Adolescence Scale

Previous research has mostly correlated screen time with adolescents' social, cognitive, and emotional well-being outcomes, while overlooking adolescents' subjective experiences of smartphone use. The present research filled this gap by developing and validating the Perceived Digital Well-Being in Adolescence Scale (PDWBA). This semantic differential scale was developed by conducting a literature review and five cognitive interviews with Slovenian adolescents and then tested in two cross-sectional studies. A total of 161 Slovenian adolescents participated in Study 1 (Mage = 17.87, SDage = 1.23), and 1,040 Slovenian adolescents (Mage = 15.28, SDage = 1.79) participated in Study 2. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated a stable three-factor model consisting of perceived digital well-being subscales in the social, cognitive, and emotional domains. Construct validity tests were performed and metric invariance across sex was established. The descriptive results showed that adolescents' perceived digital well-being differed according to sex, age, and educational track. We discuss the scale's theoretical and practical relevance and formulate suggestions for future research. Prior State of KnowledgePrior quantitative research has demonstrated mixed, positive, and negative effects of screen time on well-being outcomes. This research has not considered adolescents' subjective experiences, as a valid instrument to capture them is lacking.Novel contributionsWe developed the Perceived Digital Well-Being in Adolescence Scale, which captures adolescents' self-perceived digital well-being in the social, cognitive, and emotional domains. This scale helps quantitative scholars acknowledge that adolescents' experiences with smartphone use are subjective and socially constructed.Practical implicationsEducators and practitioners are offered a novel tool to assess adolescents' self-perceived digital well-being. This tool allows educators and practitioners to identify which adolescents experience the positive or negative effects of their smartphone use.