The Development Of The Social Media Usage Scale

Abstract

In the digital landscape that increasingly dominates everyday life, social media has become an important space for social interaction among Indonesian society. However, comprehensive instruments to measure social media usage behavior and its relation to positive and negative affect remain scarce. This study aims to develop a Social Media Usage Scale through a quantitative approach based on psychometric research, employing exploratory factor analysis to identify behavioral dimensions, reliability testing using Cronbach’s Alpha and McDonald’s Omega, and correlational analysis to examine the relationship with positive and negative affect. A total of 222 undergraduate students (M_age = 19.2; SD_age = 0.9) participated. Exploratory factor analysis identified three primary dimensions of social media use: social browsing, content interaction, and active content engagement. Reliability analyses yielded Cronbach’s alpha values of 0.80, 0.66, and 0.69, and McDonald’s omega values of 0.80, 0.72, and 0.70, respectively. Correlational analyses revealed consistent relationships between the three usage dimensions and indicators of negative affect, with weaker associations observed for positive affect. These findings underscore the importance of emotional digital literacy that balances social engagement with emotion regulation, and highlight the need for adaptive prevention and intervention programs responsive to the emotional dynamics of social media users.