The Psychometric Validity of the TikTok Addiction Scale Turkish Version: The Relationship between TikTok Addiction, Stress, and Personality
Fikret Poyraz Cokmus1, Sahsi Betul Didem Aydin2, Orkun Aydin31Department of Psychiatry, Izmir Tınaztepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Türkiye2Department of Psychology, Institute of Postgraduate Education, Izmir Tınaztepe University, Izmir, Türkiye
3Department of Psychiatry, Izmir Tınaztepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Türkiye; Department of Psychiatry, International University of Sarajevo, Faculty of Medicine, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Objectives: The rapid global proliferation of TikTok has increased the need for culturally adapted measurement tools to assess problematic TikTok use. This study aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the TikTok Addiction Scale (TTAS-TR) and examine its associations with social media addiction, perceived stress, and personality traits.
Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was administered to 508 Turkish TikTok users. Participants completed the TTAS-TR, the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), and the Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-10). The factor structure of the scale was examined using confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistency, test-retest reliability, concurrent validity, and incremental validity analyses were performed. Additionally, the predictive contribution of the TTAS-TR to perceived stress was evaluated using multivariate models beyond personality traits and social media use.
Results: The findings supported the theorized six-factor structure of the TTAS-TR—salience, mood modification, tolerance, with-drawal, conflict, and relapse—demonstrating high internal consistency and stable test-retest reliability coefficients. TTAS-TR scores were positively associated with social media addiction and perceived stress. Findings regarding personality traits were consistent with established patterns in the literature: higher neuroticism and lower conscientiousness, openness to experience, and extraversion were associated with higher TTAS-TR scores. In multivariable models, the TTAS-TR made an additional contribution to explaining perceived stress beyond personality traits and social media use, with the tolerance subdimension showing a particularly strong association with stress.
Conclusion: The TTAS-TR demonstrated strong factor validity, reliability, and concurrent and incremental validity in the Turkish sample. The scale appears to be a valid and reliable instrument for screening and research on problematic TikTok use. The tolerance dimension of TikTok use emerged as a prominent indicator associated with perceived stress.
Keywords: Addiction, personality, reliability, social media, TikTok, validity
Manuscript Language: English