%A Abdoli,Nasrin %A Farnia,Vahid %A Alikhani,Mostafa %A Sadeghi-Bahmani,Dena %A Dürsteler,Kenneth M. %A Esmaeili,Maryam %A Brühl,Annette %A Brand,Serge %D 2021 %J Frontiers in Psychiatry %C %F %G English %K Gaming,Validation,game addiction,Adolesents,adults,Persian %Q %R 10.3389/fpsyt.2021.649276 %W %L %M %P %7 %8 2021-May-24 %9 Original Research %# %! Persian Game addiction Scale %* %< %T Validation and Psychometric Properties of the Persian Version of the 21-Item Game Addiction Scale With a Sample of Adolescents and Young Adults %U https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.649276 %V 12 %0 JOURNAL ARTICLE %@ 1664-0640 %X Background: Excessive gaming has become a psychological health issue for both gamers and their social environments. This observation holds true for western but also non-western countries such as Iran. The aim of the present study was to translate and validate a Persian version of the Game Addiction Scale 21 (GAS 21) using a sample of adolescents and adults.Methods: A total of 412 participants (mean age: 22.16 years; 55.3% females) took part in the study. They completed questionnaires covering sociodemographic information and gaming-related information, as well as the Persian version of the GAS 21, the GAS 7, the Internet Addiction Test, and the Generalized Self-Efficacy Scale.Results: Of the initial 21 items of the Persian version of the GAS 21, five proved redundant and were eliminated. Factors analyses yielded four factors explaining 66.35% of the variance: 1. Withdrawal; 2. Feelings of guilt and addiction; 3. Mood modification; 4. Issues of time budget. Cronbach's alphas were satisfactory (alphas > 0.87). To validate the results, scores on the translated version were compared with the well-established Young Internet Addiction test. Factors correlated positively (rs between 0.21 and 0.31) with overall score on this latter test but, against expectations, positively with the generalized self-efficacy scale.Conclusions: A Persian version of the Game Addiction Scale-21 proved to be a useful tool for assessing the risk of game addiction behavior. Further, the solution with 16 items loading on four factors appears respond to the ecological need of parsimony.