Media Multitasking Scale: Validation Study with Portuguese Adolescents

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

doi:10.3390/socsci14030187

Open AccessArticle

Media Multitasking Scale: Validation Study with Portuguese Adolescents

by

Luísa Campos

^1,2,

Bárbara Nobre

^1,2

,

Catarina Morais

^1,2

,

Lurdes Veríssimo

^1,2

,

Pedro Dias

^2,3,*

and

Jiutong Luo

⁴

¹

Faculty of Education and Psychology, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal

²

Research Centre for Human Development, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, 4169-005 Porto, Portugal

³

Department of Psychology, University of the Azores, 9500-321 Ponta Delgada, Portugal

⁴

Faculty of Education, Shenzhen University, No. 3688 Nanhai Road, Shenzhen 518060, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Soc. Sci. 2025, 14(3), 187; https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030187

Submission received: 30 January 2025 / Revised: 12 March 2025 / Accepted: 15 March 2025 / Published: 19 March 2025

(This article belongs to the Special Issue The Mental Health and Well-Being of Children and Adolescents in the Digital Age)

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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.

Keywords: media multitasking; psychometrics; adaptation; youth; digital media

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MDPI and ACS Style

Campos, L.; Nobre, B.; Morais, C.; Veríssimo, L.; Dias, P.; Luo, J. Media Multitasking Scale: Validation Study with Portuguese Adolescents. Soc. Sci. 2025, 14, 187. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030187

AMA Style

Campos L, Nobre B, Morais C, Veríssimo L, Dias P, Luo J. Media Multitasking Scale: Validation Study with Portuguese Adolescents. Social Sciences. 2025; 14(3):187. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030187

Chicago/Turabian Style

Campos, Luísa, Bárbara Nobre, Catarina Morais, Lurdes Veríssimo, Pedro Dias, and Jiutong Luo. 2025. "Media Multitasking Scale: Validation Study with Portuguese Adolescents" Social Sciences 14, no. 3: 187. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030187

APA Style

Campos, L., Nobre, B., Morais, C., Veríssimo, L., Dias, P., & Luo, J. (2025). Media Multitasking Scale: Validation Study with Portuguese Adolescents. Social Sciences, 14(3), 187. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci14030187

Note that from the first issue of 2016, this journal uses article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

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