German adaptation and validation of the Factors of Online Disinhibition Scale

The Online Disinhibition Effect (ODE; Suler, 2004) describes how characteristics of the internet and psychological processes result in disinhibited thoughts and behaviors when using the internet. As the phenomenon is an increasing topic in cyberpsychology, questionnaires to measure the effect are needed. The present study provides the Factors of Online Disinhibition Scale, a German adaptation of the English Online Disinhibition Scale by Cheung et al. (2020). Using a German-speaking sample of N = 477 (188 female), we employed exploratory and confirmatory item response factor analyses based on the Graded Response Model. These analyses suggested a six-factor solution with correlated factors that corresponded to the six dimensions of the ODE. Factor correlations were modest to high, but did not indicate the existence of a general factor. With one exception, reliabilities (McDonald's ω) were high (ω ≥ 0.8). The exception was the solipsistic introjection subscale, which yielded a reliability of ω = 0.58). FODS was weakly associated with gender and moderately to strongly with age in three subscales (minimization of authority, invisibility, and dissociative anonymity). We encourage researchers to use the Factors of Online Disinhibition Scale presented in this paper as it showed good reliabilities (exception: solipsistic introjection) and is a differentiated, validated, and widely applicable measure of six factors that cause online disinhibition.