The active and passive use of social networking sites scale (APU-SNS): Validation and reliability assessment among young adults

Research into the use of social networking sites (SNSs) has greatly increased over the last decade. However, there is a paucity of measures that investigate engagement styles across SNSs. The aim of the present study was to refine and examine the dimensionality, internal consistency, measurement invariance and validity of an existing measure originally designed to quantify Facebook use behaviours and adopted for assessing active and passive use of SNSs (APU-SNSs). A sample of young adults’ participants was recruited in this study. The construct validity of the APU-SNSs was investigated through (multigroup) confirmatory factor analyses (CFA). The APU-SNSs showed an excellent fit to the data and good internal consistency. Also, our analyses of convergent and divergent validity showed significant associations with measures of internet\SNSs use and addiction, attachment styles, personality, and temperament characteristics. Limits and practical implications of findings are discussed.