Krägeloh, CUMedvedev, ONAlyami, HAlammar, HAHamdan-Mansour, AAlyami, EAlsoudi, SHenning, MAAlyami, MM2024-01-172024-01-172023-12-20Middle East Current Psychiatry, ISSN: 2090-5408 (Print); 2090-5416 (Online), Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 30(1), 118-. doi: 10.1186/s43045-023-00387-12090-54082090-5416http://hdl.handle.net/10292/17119Objective: Given the ubiquitous nature of digital technologies such as smartphones, research has increasingly focused on the health outcomes of prolonged use of such technologies. The Digital Stress Scale (DSS) has been developed recently, but it is currently only available in English and Chinese, and validations in other languages are warranted. Methods: The 24-item DSS was translated into Arabic using the method of translation and back-translation. Using a general population sample (n = 1069) from Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Jordan, the psychometric properties of the Arabic DSS (DSS-A) were investigated using higher-order confirmatory factor analysis. Results: The original five-factor structure was replicated for the DSS-A without the need for any modifications such as item deletion or reassignment of items to another factor. Reliability was excellent for the total scale score (α = 0.92) as well as for the five subscales (α ranged between 0.81 and 0.91). Convergent validity was supported by significant correlations between the DSS-A and psychological distress. Conclusion: The strong psychometric properties of the DSS-A imply that this scale can now be used with high validity and reliability to explore the role of digital stress and its sub-characteristics in Arabic-speaking populations.Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/5205 Social and Personality Psychology52 PsychologyJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1186/s43045-023-00387-1