Citation

Oh S, Park S. Digit. Health 2024; 10: e20552076241271851.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2024, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/20552076241271851

PMID

39119555

PMCID

PMC11307350

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the most effective cut-off point for the Smombie Scale and evaluate its ability to screen for pedestrian safety risks among young adults.

METHODS: Data were obtained from an online sample of 396 Korean young adults aged 18-39 years. Latent profile analysis was used to distinguish the risk group as a reference measure for the Smombie Scale. Discriminative power was assessed using sensitivity, specificity, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, and the area under the ROC curve. The cut-off points were estimated from the Youden index and the balanced score.

RESULTS: The latent profile analysis showed two different classes: "risk group" of 17.8% and "others." Based on the latent profile analysis, sensitivity, and specificity analysis showed that an adequate cut-off point of 2.78 of five points or higher was associated with a high risk of distracted walking.

CONCLUSION: The Smombie Scale is a good predictor of problematic smartphone use on the road and can be used as a screening tool for assessing risk levels among young adult pedestrians.

Language: en

Keywords

risk assessment; validity; smartphone; young adults; Pedestrians; problematic use