Adaptation and validation of the GHOST questionnaire in the Indonesian context: Assessing recipients' experiences of ghosting in digital communication
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26905/jpt.v21i2.17698Keywords:
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), Digital communication, Ghosting, Instrument adaptation, Psychometrics, ValidationAbstract
Digital communication helps transformed interpersonal relationships, yet has also increased the probability of ghosting, which refers to the termination of communication without any explanation and closure. This study aimed to adapt the GHOST Questionnaire to measure ghosting in the Indonesian context and to examine its content validity, construct validity, and internal consistency. A quantitative psychometric design was employed to analyze data from 254 young adults who had experienced ghosting in a romantic relationship conducted partly through digital media. Participants were recruited using convenience sampling. The adaptation followed the International Test Commission guidelines and included translation, synthesis, expert review, readability testing, form development, data collection, and psychometric testing. Content validity was examined using Aiken’s V, and construct validity was tested through a one-factor confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) estimator in JASP 0.19.1.0. Aiken’s V coefficient was 0.758, indicating moderate content validity. The one-factor model indicated good fit with CFI = 0.988; TLI = 0.983; RMSEA = 0.053; SRMR = 0.041 and all factor loadings were significant, with standardized loadings = 0.566–0.726. The average variance extracted 0.405, which was below the 0.50 criterion, indicating that convergent validity was not yet optimal, whereas Cronbach’s α = 0.842 and McDonald’s ω = 0.811 indicated adequate internal consistency. These findings provide only preliminary evidence among the psychometric properties tested, as equivalence with the original instrument was not assessed. The Bahasa Indonesia version may be used in nonclinical research investigating young adults’ experiences of being ghosted in Indonesia.
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