This study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of an instrument, the Internet Behaviour
Questionnaire for Adolescents, developed specifically for assessing the utility, emotions associated with, and
skills and attitudes towards Internet usage. Initial items were generated with a total of 70. These items were
related to the assessment of the motives, pleasure and satisfaction, attitudes and skills of Internet usage. The
instrument was then administered to a sample of 490 college students in the Yongzhou city for Exploratory Factor
Analysis (EFA) and item reduction. Psychometric properties of the reduced scale were then investigated. The
reduced scale was then subjected to further Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) with another sample of 606
college students in the Changsha city with test-retest reliability examined. The results obtained from the EFA
suggested a 9-factor solution which could be identified as use of the Internet for information seeking, use of the
Internet for cyber sexual activities and gaming, use of the Internet for relaxation and entertainment, use of the
Internet for cyber relationships, technological mastery, Internet self efficacy, Internet anxiety, and positive
evaluation, and negative evaluation. These 9 factors could explain about 52% of the total variance. Cronbach’s
alpha coefficients of the 9 factors ranged from 0.404 to 0.833, and the test-retest correlation coefficients ranged
from 0.496 to 0.726. Results obtained from CFA indicated a good fit of a 9-factor structure to the data collected
from the confirmatory sample. In conclusion, the Internet Behaviour Questionnaire for Adolescents is a valid and
reliable assessment tool for measuring Internet behaviours among adolescents.
