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Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS)

The Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) is a six-item brief self-rating scale designed to assess at-risk social media addiction. The BSMAS is an adaptation of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale with the simple substitution of the term “Facebook” for “Social Media”. The items reflect the core elements of addiction:

  • Meaning - activity dominates thinking and behavior,
  • Mood modification - activity modifies mood
  • Tolerance - increasing amounts of activity are required to achieve the previous effects,
  • Withdrawal symptoms - the occurrence of unpleasant sensations when activity is interrupted or suddenly reduced,
  • Conflict - activity causes conflict in relationships, work/education and other activities,
  • Relapse - tendency to return to earlier patterns of activity after abstinence or control.

The BSMAS assesses problematic social media use behaviors over a twelve-month period.

Length of completion

The entire questionnaire takes approximately 3 minutes to complete.

Individualized feedback for the respondent

By completing the scale, the proband determines if social media addiction is a concern.

Keywords

Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, BSMAS, addiction, social networking, social media

Scoring and interpretation

The total score is obtained by summing the scores of all items, and thus ranges from 6-30, with higher scores indicating higher levels of problematic social media use and dependence.

Response Scale

Respondents answer each item on a five-point Likert scale ranging from “very rarely” (1) to “very often” (5).

References

Andreassen, C., Billieux, J., Griffiths, M., Kuss, D., Demetrovics, Z., Mazzoni, E., & Pallesen, S. (2016). The Relationship Between Addictive Use of Social Media and VideoGames and Symptoms of Psychiatric Disorders: A Large-ScaleCross-Sectional Study. Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, 30(2), 252-262. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/adb0000160252

Andreassen, C., Torsheim, T., Brunborg, G., & Pallesen, S. (2012). Development of a Facebook Addiction Scale. Psychological Reports, 110(2), 501-517. https://doi.org/10.2466/02.09.18.PR0.110.2.501-517

Duradoni, M., Innocenti, F., & Guazzini, A. (2020). Well-Being and Social Media: A Systematic Review of Bergen Addiction Scales. Future Internet, 12(24). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.3390/fi12020024

Zarate, D., Hobson, B., March, E., Griffiths, M., & Stavropoulos, V. Psychometric properties of the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale: An analysis using item response theory. Addictive Behaviors Reports, 17(100473). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.abrep.2022.100473