An assessment of the structural validity and measurement invariance of the Web-Use Skills Scale for aging internet users

Prevodnik, Katja (author), Trkman, Marina (author), Grošelj, Darja (author), Bartol, Jošt (author), Petrovčič, Andraž (author)

Research on digital inequality has found that aging adults are often at risk of digital exclusion. Understanding the validity of survey measures assessing internet skills in this population is critical to providing the high-quality data needed for effective digital inclusion policy interventions. This cross-validation study examines the structural validity and measurement invariance (across age, gender, and education groups) of the Web-Use Skills scale (WUS), which is commonly used as a proxy measure of internet skills. We tested the 14-item version of the WUS. The scale was translated into the Slovenian language and pretested with older internet users. Data were collected from two independent samples of internet users aged 50+ years (N$_1$ = 259, N$_2$ = 256) drawn from an online opt-in panel in Slovenia. The examination of structural validity confirmed that the WUS adequately reflects the one-factor structure of the web-use skills construct, albeit in a shorter six-item form. Moreover, the analysis confirmed strict measurement invariance between the two samples, and at least scalar invariance between age, gender, and education groups. The results support the applicability of WUS in cross-group comparisons of internet skills in the aging internet users’ population and point to several opportunities for future work.

• Language: English
• Keywords: aging adults, cross-validation, internet skills, measurement invariance, structural validity, Web-Use Skills scale
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FDV - Faculty of Social Sciences; FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Author Accepted Manuscript
• Year: 2022
• Number of pages: Str. 657-665
• Numbering: Vol. 25, no. 10
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-141744
• UDC: 303:004.738.5-053.9
• ISSN on article: 2152-2715
• DOI: 10.1089/cyber.2022.0023
• COBISS.SI-ID: 123448835
• Publication date in RUL: 06.10.2022

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking
• Shortened title: Cyberpsychology behav. soc. netw.
• Publisher: Mary Ann Liebert
• ISSN: 2152-2715
• COBISS.SI-ID: 518180121

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: starostniki, internet, raziskovanje, metodologija