Assessing Mental Health, Narcissism, and Addictive Social Media Use with a Single Item
Among other instruments, the Digital Panel uses the ultra-short “Bubbles” scales, which were developed and validated by the panel team in preliminary studies. They demonstrate psychometric properties comparable to those of the original instruments on which they were based. This allows the Bubbles to be used, for example, in brief surveys to ensure a time- and cost-efficient data collection.
Each Bubble consists of a single item, in which the content of the items from the respective original instrument is represented in a graphical design. The degree to which the content of a Bubble applies to the respondent is rated on a 4-point Likert-type scale (1 = not at all, 4 = very strongly/mostly).
The Bubbles are freely available instruments. If you would like to use the Bubbles in your studies, please contact the panel team.
Here you can find the publications on the development and validation of the Bubbles:
Negative Dimension of Mental Health:
Depression Bubble, Anxiety Bubble, Stress Bubble – developed based on the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales 21 (DASS21; original version: Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995; German version: Nilges & Essau, 2015)
Study:
Brailovskaia, J., Schneider, S., & Margraf, J. (2024). The "Bubbles"-Study: Validation of Ultra-Short Scales for the Assessment of Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scales. PLoS One, 19(3), e0300923. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0300923
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0300923
Positive Dimension of Mental Health:
Life Satisfaction Bubble – developed based on the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS; original version: Diener et al., 1985; German version: Glaesmer et al., 2011)
Positive Mental Health (PMH) Bubble – developed based on the Positive Mental Health Scale (PMH-Scale; German original version: Lukat et al., 2016)
Social Support Bubble – developed based on the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire short form K-6 (F-SozU K-6; German original version: Lin et al., 2019)
Study:
Brailovskaia, J., Teismann, T., Precht, L.-M., Schneider, S., & Margraf, J. (2024). The “Bubbles”-Study: Validation of Ultra-Short Scales for the Assessment of Positive Mental Health, Life Satisfaction, and Social Support. Journal of Public Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10389-024-02266-3
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10389-024-02266-3
Overt Narcissism and Addictive Social Media Use:
Narcissism Bubbles – developed based on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-13; original version: Gentile et al., 2013; German version: Brailovskaia et al., 2019)
Addictive Social Media Use (SMU) Bubble – developed based on the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS; original version: Andreassen et al., 2017; German version: Brailovskaia et al., 2020)
Study:
Brailovskaia, J., & Margraf, J. (2024). The "Bubbles"-Study: Validation of ultra-short scales for the assessment of addictive social media use and grandiose narcissism. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 13, 100382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2024.100382
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958824000150
References
Andreassen, C. S., Pallesen, S., & Griffiths, M. D. (2017). The relationship between addictive use of social media, narcissism, and self-esteem: Findings from a large national survey. Addictive Behaviors, 64, 287–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2016.03.006
Brailovskaia, J., Bierhoff, H.-W., & Margraf, J. (2019). How to Identify Narcissism With 13 Items? Validation of the German Narcissistic Personality Inventory–13 (G‑NPI‑13). Assessment, 26(4), 630–644. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191117740625
Brailovskaia, J., Schillack, H., & Margraf, J. (2020). Tell me why are you using social media (SM)! Relationship between reasons for use of SM, SM flow, daily stress, depression, anxiety, and addictive SM use – An exploratory investigation of young adults in Germany. Computers in Human Behavior, 113, 106511. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2020.106511
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa4901_13
Gentile, B., Miller, J. D., Hoffman, B. J., Reidy, D. E., Zeichner, A., & Campbell, W. K. (2013). A test of two brief measures of grandiose narcissism: The Narcissistic Personality Inventory‑13 and the Narcissistic Personality Inventory‑16. Psychological Assessment, 25(4), 1120–1136. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033192
Glaesmer, H., Grande, G., Braehler, E., & Roth, M. (2011). The German version of the satisfaction with life scale (SWLS): Psychometric properties, validity, and population-based norms. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 27, 127–132. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000058
Lin, M., Hirschfeld, G., & Margraf, J. (2019). Brief form of the Perceived Social Support Questionnaire (F‑SozU K‑6): Validation, norms, and cross-cultural measurement invariance in the USA, Germany, Russia, and China. Psychological Assessment, 31(5), 609–621. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000686
Lovibond, P. F., & Lovibond, S. H. (1995). The structure of negative emotional states: comparison of the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS) with the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 33(3), 335–343. https://doi.org/10.1016/0005-7967(94)00075-U
Lukat, J., Margraf, J., Lutz, R., van der Veld, W. M., & Becker, E. S. (2016). Psychometric properties of the positive mental health scale (PMH-scale). BMC Psychology, 4(1), 8. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-016-0111-x
Nilges, P., & Essau, C. (2015). Die Depressions-Angst-Stress-Skalen. Der Schmerz, 29(6), 649–657. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00482-015-0019-z
> Back to the overview "Publications and Information for Researchers and Interested Parties"