Abstract

The increased use of social networks and the formation of groups on the Internet has transformed the construction of social identity in people. The aim of this research was to adapt and validate the Identity Bubble Scale (IBRS-9) in university students. A linguistic adaptation of the instrument and a cross-sectional design study were carried out. A total of 521 students (49.14% male, 50.86% female) with a mean age of 22.01 (SD=3.20) from 12 universities in Chile participated. Three confirmatory factorial models were evaluated; the model with three correlated factors was the one that yielded satisfactory indicators, coinciding with the original theoretical proposal. The results of the invariance analysis, according to sex, indicated that the IBRS-9 is stable up to scalar invariance. The factors presented adequate levels of internal consistency reliability. The findings provide evidence supporting the psychometric quality of the IBRS-9 for its use in Chilean university students.