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Background and aims
Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has become health concern around the world, and specialized health services for the treatment of IGD are emerging. Despite the increase in such services, few studies have examined the efficacy of psychological treatments for IGD. The primary aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of a specialized psychotherapy program for adolescents with IGD [i.e., the “Programa Individualizado Psicoterapéutico para la Adicción a las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación” (PIPATIC) program].
Methods
The sample comprised 31 adolescents (aged 12–18 years) from two public mental health centers who were assigned to either the (a) PIPATIC intervention experimental group or (b) standard cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) control group. The interventions were assessed at pre-, middle-, and post-treatment phases, as well as a 3-month assessment was carried out after completing the interventions.
Results
No significant differences between either group in the pre-treatment phase were found. Relating to the different interventions examined, significant differences were found at pre-test and post-test on the following variables: comorbid disorders, intrapersonal and interpersonal abilities, family relationships, and therapists’ measures. Both groups experienced a significant reduction of IGD symptoms, although the PIPATIC group experienced higher significant improvements in the remainder of the variables examined.
Discussion and conclusions
The findings suggest that PIPATIC program is effective in the treatment of IGD and its comorbid disorders/symptoms, alongside the improvement of intra- and interpersonal abilities and family relationships. However, it should also be noted that standard CBT was also effective in the treatment of IGD. Changing the focus of treatment and applying an integrative focus (including the addiction, the comorbid symptoms, intra- and interpersonal abilities, and family psychotherapy) appear to be more effective in facilitating adolescent behavior change than CBT focusing only on the IGD itself.
Background
The Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI) is a short, valid, and reliable instrument used to assess the risk for exercise addiction, and has already been used in numerous published studies. The EAI contains six items, rated on a 5-point scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree), which are based on the components model of addiction. The middle of the original scale (scoring 3 out of 5) reflects neither agreement nor disagreement, which conveys neutrality. However, the present authors believe that individual who provides a neutral opinion on each item (i.e., scoring 3) is a conceptual dilemma because it artificially increases the total score obtainable on the scale without yielding agreement or disagreement with a particular item. Indeed, the six items of the EAI are phrased in such way that respondents can either agree or disagree in the slightly to strongly range.
Methods
This study modified the EAI from a 5-point rating scale to a 6-point one, so that it eliminated a middle neutral response. A total of 277 exercising participants completed the Revised Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI-R) and Exercise Dependence Scale.
Results
All psychometric properties of the EAI-R were superior to the originally published scale.
Conclusion
Considering these findings, it is recommended that scholars now use the EAI-R in the future research if they need to assess the risk of exercise addiction.
Beyond the myths about work addiction: Toward a consensus on definition and trajectories for future studies on problematic overworking
A response to the commentaries on: Ten myths about work addiction (Griffiths et al., 2018)
In an unprecedented collaborative effort to integrate the existing knowledge on work addiction and delineate trajectories for future studies, several papers from work addiction researchers (including some of the most prolific experts in the field) have contributed to the debate on the misconceptions/myths about this problematic behavior. On the basis of the overview of the presented arguments, the most commonly proposed recommendations were that there should be: (a) a general definition of work addiction, (b) the need for more transdisciplinary and integrative approach to research, and (c) propositions regarding more high-quality research. These three aspects are summarized in the present paper. There is a general agreement among work addiction researchers that work addiction is a problematic behavior that merits more systematic studies, which require input and expertise from a wide range of fields due to its complex nature.
Background and aims
Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become a topic of increasing research interest since its inclusion in Section 3 of the DSM-5. Given the lack of clinical studies concerning IGD, exploring the characteristics of clinical samples with IGD will help to delineate the gaming disorder construct and inform future treatment studies.
Methods
Data collection consisted of clinical interviews comprising 31 male adolescents diagnosed with IGD. Alongside the clinical interviews, the participants were administered a battery of psychometric tests assessing the following: IGD, personality traits, comorbid symptomatology, emotional intelligence (EI), and family environment characteristics.
Results
The results showed that the adolescents with IGD and their relatives reported a high number of hours per week and high presence of stressful life events in the majority of the sample. High scores on scales assessing depression, anxiety, and somatic disorders were found. However, the findings indicate the presence of several other comorbid disorders meaning that some of the adolescent sample with IGD had different clinical profiles. Several personality traits were found to be highly associated with IGD including introversion, inhibition, submissiveness, self-devaluation, interpersonal sensibility, obsessive–compulsive tendencies, phobic anxiety, and hostility, as well as paranoid and borderline personality traits. Other negative characteristics found in the present sample included a high level of social problems, low EI, and dysfunctional family relationships.
Discussion and conclusions
The findings suggest a more global pattern of key psychological characteristics associated with Internet gaming disorder in adolescence. This may help in understanding the complexity of this proposed disorder and it may also help in designing more specialized interventions for adolescents with IGD. The findings have important implications for clinical practice and interventions.
Background and aims
Smartphone use has increased markedly over the past decade and recent research has demonstrated that a small minority of users experience problematic consequences, which in extreme cases have been contextualized as an addiction. To date, most research have been quantitative and survey-based. This study qualitatively examined the components model of addiction for both “addicted” and “non-addicted” users.
Methods
A screening tool comprising 10 dichotomous items was administered to 40 college students. Of these, six addicted and six non-addicted participants were identified on the basis of their score on the screening tool and were asked to participate in a semi-structured interview. The interview questions were based on the components model of addiction comprising six domains (i.e., salience, withdrawal, conflict, relapse and reinstatement, tolerance, and mood modification). Directed content analysis was used to analyze the transcribed data and subthemes as well as emerging themes for the study as a whole were established.
Results
There was some evidence of demarcation between smartphone addicts on the dimensions of salience, tolerance, withdrawal, and conflict. Mood modification was not much different in either group, and no participant reported relapse.
Conclusions
The non-addicted group had much greater control over their smartphone usage than the addicted group on four (of six) aforementioned dimensions of behavioral addiction. Consequently, the main findings of this study provided good support for the components model of behavioral addiction.
Abstract
Background and aims
Given that Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has tentatively been included in DSM-5 as a psychiatric disorder, it is important that the effect of parental and peer attachment in the development of IGD is further explored.
Methods
Utilizing a longitudinal design, this study investigated the bidirectional association between perceived parent–adolescent attachment, peer attachment, and IGD among 1,054 first-year undergraduate students (58.8% female). The students provided demographic information (e.g., age, gender) and were assessed using the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale and the Inventory of Parent and Peer Attachment. Assessments occurred three times, six months apart (October 2017; April 2018; October 2018).
Results
Cross-lagged panel models suggested that IGD weakly predicted subsequent mother attachment but significantly negatively predicted father attachment. However, father and mother attachment did not predict subsequent IGD. Moreover, peer attachment had a bidirectional association with IGD. Furthermore, the model also demonstrated stable cross-sectional negative correlations between attachment and IGD across all three assessments.
Discussion and conclusions
The findings of the present study did not show a bidirectional association between parental attachment and IGD, but they did show a negative bidirectional association between peer attachment and IGD. The results suggested previous cross-sectional associations between IGD and attachment, with larger links among males than females at the first measurement point. We found that peer attachment negatively predicted subsequent IGD, which indicates that peer attachment plays an important role in preventing addictive gaming behaviors for university students.
Abstract
Aims
Although relationships between addiction and personality have previously been explored, no study has ever simultaneously investigated the interrelationships between several behavioral addictions, and related these to the main dimensions of the five-factor model of personality.
Methods
In this study, 218 university students completed questionnaires assessing seven different behavioral addictions (i.e., Facebook addiction, video game addiction, Internet addiction, exercise addiction, mobile phone addiction, compulsive buying, and study addiction) as well as an instrument assessing the main dimensions of the five-factor model of personality.
Results
Of the 21 bivariate intercorrelations between the seven behavioral addictions, all were positive (and nine significantly). The results also showed that (i) Neuroticism was positively associated with Internet addiction, exercise addiction, compulsive buying, and study addiction, (ii) Extroversion was positively associated with Facebook addiction, exercise addiction, mobile phone addiction, and compulsive buying, (iii) Openness to experience was negatively associated with Facebook addiction and mobile phone addiction, (iv) Agreeableness was negatively associated with Internet addiction, exercise addiction, mobile phone addiction, and compulsive buying, and (v) Conscientiousness was negatively associated with Facebook addiction, video game addiction, Internet addiction, and compulsive buying and positively associated with exercise addiction and study addiction.
Conclusions
The positive associations between the seven behavioral addictions suggest one or several underlying pathological factors. Hierarchical multiple regressions showed that personality traits explained between 6% and 17% of the variance in the seven behavioral addictions, suggesting that personality to a varying degree explains scores on measures of addictive behaviors.
Background
Behavioral addictions often onset in adolescence and increase the risk of psychological and social problems later in life. The core symptoms of addiction are tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, lack of control, and compulsive occupation with the behavior. Psychometrically validated tools are required for detection and early intervention. Adolescent screening instruments exist for several behavioral addictions including gambling and video gaming addiction but not for exercise addiction. Given recent empirical and clinical evidence that a minority of teenagers appear to be experiencing exercise addiction, a psychometrically robust screening instrument is required.
Aims
The aim of this study was to develop and test the psychometric properties of a youth version of the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI) – a robust screening instrument that has been used across different countries and cultures – and to assess the prevalence of exercise addiction and associated disturbed eating.
Methods
A cross-sectional survey was administered to three high-risk samples (n = 471) aged 11–20 years (mean age: 16.3 years): sport school students, fitness center attendees, and patients with eating disorder diagnoses. A youth version of the EAI (EAI-Y) was developed and distributed. Participants were also screened for disordered eating with the SCOFF Questionnaire.
Results
Overall, the EAI-Y demonstrated good reliability and construct validity. The prevalence rate of exercise addiction was 4.0% in school athletes, 8.7% in fitness attendees, and 21% in patients with eating disorders. Exercise addiction was associated with feelings of guilt when not exercising, ignoring pain and injury, and higher levels of body dissatisfaction.
Background and aims
Gaming applications have become one of the main entertainment features on smartphones, and this could be potentially problematic in terms of dangerous, prohibited, and dependent use among a minority of individuals. A cross-national study was conducted in Belgium and Finland. The aim was to examine the relationship between gaming on smartphones and self-perceived problematic smartphone use via an online survey to ascertain potential predictors.
Methods
The Short Version of the Problematic Mobile Phone Use Questionnaire (PMPUQ-SV) was administered to a sample comprising 899 participants (30% male; age range: 18–67 years).
Results
Good validity and adequate reliability were confirmed regarding the PMPUQ-SV, especially the dependence subscale, but low prevalence rates were reported in both countries using the scale. Regression analysis showed that downloading, using Facebook, and being stressed contributed to problematic smartphone use. Anxiety emerged as predictor for dependence. Mobile games were used by one-third of the respective populations, but their use did not predict problematic smartphone use. Very few cross-cultural differences were found in relation to gaming through smartphones.
Conclusion
Findings suggest mobile gaming does not appear to be problematic in Belgium and Finland.
Background and aims
No previous study has investigated changes in attitudes toward gambling from under legal gambling age to legal gambling age. The aim of the present study was therefore to investigate attitudinal changes during this transition and to identify predictors of corresponding attitude change.
Methods
In all 1239 adolescents from a national representative sample participated in two survey waves (Wave 1; 17.5 years; Wave 2; 18.5 years).
Results
From Wave 1 to Wave 2 the sample became more acceptant toward gambling. A regression analysis showed that when controlling for attitudes toward gambling at Wave 1 males developed more acceptant attitudes than females. Neuroticism was inversely related to development of acceptant attitudes toward gambling from Wave 1 to Wave 2, whereas approval of gambling by close others at Wave 1 was positively associated with development of more acceptant attitudes. Continuous or increased participation in gambling was related to development of more acceptant attitudes from Wave 1 to Wave 2.
Conclusions
Attitudes toward gambling became more acceptant when reaching legal gambling age. Male gender, approval of gambling by close others and gambling participation predicted development of positive attitudes toward gambling whereas neuroticism was inversely related to development of positive attitudes toward gambling over time.
