PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES TESTING OF  PARENT MEDIA ADDICTION AND PARENT MEDIA DEPENDENCY TOOLS IN BAHASA MALAYSIA

Authors

Keywords:

Early Child development, media dependency, parent media dependency, parent media addiction

Abstract

The rapid integration of screen-based media into daily life has altered parent-child interactions, raising concerns about its impact on early childhood development.  To measure parent media addiction and dependency, two English-language instruments, namely the ‘Parent Problematic Digital Technology Use Scale’ and the ‘Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale’ were translated to Bahasa Malaysia and cross-culturally adapted in this study.  A cross-sectional study was conducted in a district of Selangor, Malaysia, among parents and caretakers with normal children 18 and 36 months of age to test the Bahasa Malaysia version of instruments’ content validity, internal consistency, and floor ceiling effect involving 100 participants and test-retest reliability involving 60 participants.  The Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.734 was reported for ‘Parent Problematic Digital Technology Use Scale’ and 0.839 for the Media and Technology Usage and Attitudes Scale.  The items in the scales correlate adequately in the construct and lack of discriminant validity was reported to be unlikely.  Thus, the Bahasa Malaysia scales provide an effective method for measuring parent media addiction and dependency, crucial factors in understanding the impact of smartphone and online use on parent-child interaction.  This validated instrument should enable further exploration into the role of digital technology on parent behavior and its influence on early child development, and may guide programs and policies fostering healthier media habits in Malaysian families.

Author Biographies

  • Dr. Catherine Thamarai Arumugam, UNIVERSITI MALAYA

    Dr Catherine Thamarai Arumugam is currently attached to the Family Health Discipline, Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya as a Medical Lecturer with a specialisation in Public Health Medicine.

    Her past publications speaks of her interest in the research on early childhood development, infectious diseases and her love for poetries. In an unwavering effort of creating a safe media environment for thriving children - she is interested to further explore on the dynamics of technology, toddlers and family relationships. 

    A medical degree holder from Universitas Sumatera Utara, Indonesia - her journey as a junior doctor started at the Sungai Buloh Hospital which is also the national referral centre for infectious disease. Upon completion of housemanship training, she went on to serve as a Medical Officer in Charge of a maternal child health clinic in the district of Temerloh, Pahang. The responsibility entrusted granted her invaluable experience especially in the domains of maternal child health and disaster preparedness – stirring the passion towards public health. Dr Catherine went back to Temerloh District Health Office with a Doctorate in Public Health from Universiti Malaya - serving as an Epidemiology Officer, heading the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Unit during the COVID19 rampage. Her major tasks revolved around surveillance, outbreak response, training activities and playing the role of liaison officer for the state-level CDC department.

    Dr Catherine has now started her new venture as a medical lecturer, striving to be an advocate for public health issues she is passionate about through her research works and creative writings!

  • Professor Dr. Mas Ayu Binti Said, UNIVERSITI MALAYA

    Dr Mas Ayu is an Epidemiologist in the Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Malaya. She is also a consultant epidemiologist at the University Malaya Medical Centre. Her research interest focuses on mental health, substance abuse and psychopharmacology, especially the side effect of metabolic syndrome due to the treatment of schizophrenia. A recipient of several research grants, she has many collaborative research activities with University Malaya Centre of Addiction Sciences. Her recent project is Enhancing Quality and Longevity of Life of Malaysian B40 under Long Term Research Grant Scheme (LRGS). She also involved in another project for B40 - Coping to Live with COVID-19: The New Norm which was funded by WHO.  

    As a public health specialist in infectious disease and field epidemiologist, Dr Mas Ayu is the member of Malaysia One Health University Network (MyOHUN) which is part of USAID. She is active in activity related to One Health in Malaysia and Southeast Asia Region. Dr Mas Ayu also has research interest on communicable diseases mainly focusing on vector borne diseases like Chikungunya and Dengue Fever. She has research collaboration through Malaysia-Sweden Research Link with Umea University, working on the early warning system of dengue outbreak. 

    Dr Mas Ayu attended the evidence-based medicine (EBM) practice workshop as training for trainer in Oxford University in 2008, funded by grants from the European Union. The international collaboration was together with Utrecht (UMCU), Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine (CEBM), University of Oxford, the Rumah Sakit Cipto Mangunkusumo (RSCM) Hospital, Jakarta and University of Malaya. She has conducted several EBM workshops together with other trainers. She also served as panel for The Malaysian Qualifications Agency (MQA), which is a statutory body in Malaysia to accredit academic programs provided by educational institutions providing post-secondary or higher education and facilitate the accreditation and articulation of qualifications.

  • Associate Professor Dr.Nik Daliana Binti Nik Farid, UNIVERSITI MALAYA

    Nik Daliana Nik Farid earned her medical degree from the University of Adelaide, South Australia in 2001. Upon graduation, she joined the Malaysian government service and did house officer training and medical officer work at Kuala Lumpur Hospital. In 2005, she joined the Institute for Public Health where she was appointed as the Main Research Group member for the Third National Health and Morbidity Survey. In 2007, she went on to study at the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur where she received her Master of Public Health (MPH) and Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degrees. In 2012, she served as the second Medical Officer of Health at Mukah Division Health Office, Sarawak where she covered two major sections namely Epidemiology as well as Maternal and Child Health. Nik Daliana then continued her service as the Head of Primary Health Care Unit at the Hulu Langat District Health Office, Selangor. She left the Ministry of Health in August 2013 to serve the University of Malaya. Nik Daliana is currently a Medical Lecturer in the Department of Social and Peventive Medicine with a specialisation in Public Health. She has a special interest in adolescent health. More specifically her work aims to address the five areas, namely sexual and reproductive health, mental health, nutritional health, physical activity and high risk behaviour. Her contribution to this field include: conducting research on sexual risk behaviour among incarcerated adolescents in welfare institutions; assessing for non-communicable diseases among school-going adolesents and setting up of an adolescent friendly website for quasi experimental study. Also, she is involved in the collection and distribution of literatures pertaining to adolescent's health by a clearinghouse centre in UM. Nik Daliana is presently a member of the Malaysian Association for Adolescent Health (MAAH); Malaysian Clearinghouse Center for Adolescent Health (MyCCAdH); Malaysian Care for Adolescent Project (MyCAP); Malaysian Health and Adolescents Longitudinal Research Study (MyHeARTs) and Ministry of Health Malaysia National Technical Committee for Adolescent Health. Nik Daliana teaches Family Health to postgraduate and undergraduate students. She coordinates one postgraduate course in 2019/20 i.e. Society, Behaviour and Health. A strong advocate of problem-based learning (PBL) technique, Nik Daliana tutors PBL sessions for Stage 1 and 2 University of Malaya Medical Programme (UMMP) students. Administratively, Nik Daliana has coordinated Master of Public Health and Master of Medical Science (Public Health) programmes. Currently, she coordinates the Doctor of Public Health Programme and assists in the coordination of the University of Malaya-Kyoto University Double Degree Programme for Public Health. 

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Published

2025-11-14

Issue

Vol. 56 No. 6 (2025): THE SOUTHEAST ASIAN JOURNAL OF TROPICAL MEDICINE AND PUBLIC HEALTH

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How to Cite

PSYCHOMETRIC PROPERTIES TESTING OF  PARENT MEDIA ADDICTION AND PARENT MEDIA DEPENDENCY TOOLS IN BAHASA MALAYSIA. (2025). The Southeast Asian Journal of Tropical Medicine and Public Health, 56(6), 682-702. https://journal.seameotropmednetwork.org/index.php/jtropmed/article/view/1317

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