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Background: Smartphone usage became drastically increased in the past two decades. Spending abnormally more time playing games can lead to development of internet gaming disorder (IGD) which leads to negative impact on health and lifestyle. Aim and Objectives: The aim of this study was to find out the prevalence of IGD and smartphone usage patterns in medical students. Materials and Methods: The study was held in M. P. Shah Government Medical College in Jamnagar. Total 206 1st year medical students were included for this study. Pre-validated self-made questionnaire and pre-structured IGD-20 questionnaire were used in this study. Results: The prevalence of IGD in medical students is 1.46%. In male population, the prevalence of IGD was higher (1.6%) compared to female population (1.23%). Conclusion: IGD can be a great disaster if remain unnoticed. It can change one’s lifestyle gradually. Preventive measures such as parental locking system and strong rules for mobile phone use in university hours should be implied.
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ABSTRACT Objective To investigate the prevalence of internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptoms in a sample of Brazilian adults, and its association with personality, psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial measures. Methods We evaluated 219 adults online recruited using questionnaires and psychometric scales. We evaluated the behavior and pattern of internet games using the Game Addiction Scale (GAS). We tested the association of the previous measures with the GAS scores by spearman correlations and multiple regression analysis. Results Of our sample, 74% played games online. We found correlations between IGD symptoms and most symptoms of mental disorders, with small or moderate effect sizes, as well as correlations with the personality traits of agreeableness (r = -0.272; p < 0.001), conscientiousness (r = - 0.314; p < 0.001), and neuroticism (r = 0.299; p < 0.001). Additionally, we found a negative association with psychosocial outcomes such as quality of life (r = -0.339; p < 0.001) and life satisfaction (r = - 0.202; p < 0.003). The multivariate model included the personality traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness and symptoms of dissociation and somatization as predictors. The prevalence of IGD was 9% in those who played online games. Conclusion IGD is correlated with different areas of the individual's life, such as personality, quality of life, and several common symptoms of mental disorders. The prevalence can be considered high among players (9%). Conscientiousness, agreeability, somatic symptoms, and dissociative symptoms were associated with the symptoms of IGD.
RESUMO Objetivo Investigar a prevalência de sintomas do transtorno do jogo pela internet (TJI) em uma amostra de adultos brasileiros e sua associação com personalidade, sintomas psiquiátricos e medidas psicossociais. Métodos Avaliamos 219 adultos recrutados on-line por meio de questionários e escalas psicométricas. Avaliamos o comportamento e o padrão dos jogos na internet usando a Game Addiction Scale (GAS). Testamos a associação das medidas anteriores com as pontuações na GAS por meio de correlações de Spearman e análise de regressão múltipla. Resultados De nossa amostra, 74% jogavam jogos on-line. Encontramos correlações entre sintomas do TJI e a maioria dos sintomas de transtornos mentais, com tamanhos de efeito pequenos ou moderados, bem como correlações com os traços de personalidade de amabilidade (r = -0,272; p < 0,001), conscienciosidade (r = - 0,314; p < 0,001) e neuroticismo (r = 0,299; p < 0,001). Além disso, encontramos uma associação negativa com resultados psicossociais, como qualidade de vida (r = -0,339; p < 0,001) e satisfação com a vida (r = - 0,202; p < 0,003). O modelo multivariado incluiu os traços de personalidade de conscienciosidade e amabilidade e sintomas de dissociação e somatização como preditores. A prevalência de TJI foi de 9% entre os que jogavam jogos on-line. Conclusão O TJI está correlacionado com diferentes áreas da vida do indivíduo, como personalidade, qualidade de vida e vários sintomas comuns de transtornos mentais. A prevalência pode ser considerada alta entre os jogadores (9%). Conscienciosidade, amabilidade, sintomas somáticos e sintomas dissociativos estavam associados aos sintomas do TJI.
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ObjectiveTo explore the effects of anxiety and depression on Internet gaming disorder in medical students， and to evaluate the moderating effect of gender， so as to provide references for the prevention and intervention of Internet gaming disorder in medical students. MethodsIn November 2021， a total of 11 771 medical students from a medical college in Sichuan province participated in an online survey through Wenjuanxing platform. Participants completed the Self-rating Anxiety Scale （SAS）， Self-rating Depression Scale （SDS） and the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form （IGDS9-SF）. Then a hierarchical multiple regression analysis was conducted to discuss the moderating role of gender in the relationships between anxiety， depression and Internet gaming disorder in medical students. Results①Males scored lower on SDS （t=-8.302， P<0.01）， and higher on IGDS9-SF than females （t=33.384， P<0.01）. ②SAS score of medical students was positively correlated with SDS score （r=0.735， P<0.01）， SAS and SDS scores were positively correlated with IGDS9-SF score in medical students （r=0.288， 0.238， P<0.01）. ③Anxiety and depression could positively predict Internet gaming disorder （β=0.245， 0.058， t=18.864， 4.444， P<0.01）. ④Gender played a moderating effect between anxiety and Internet gaming disorder （β=-0.194， t=-4.518， P<0.01）. ConclusionAnxiety and depression have a positive predictive effect on Internet gaming disorder in medical students. Furthermore， the effects of anxiety on Internet gaming disorder are moderated by gender， and the anxiety of male students exhibits a markedly stronger impact on Internet gaming disorder than that of female students.
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@#Introduction: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) has recently been incorporated into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) as a disorder for future research. The primary objectives of the present study are to describe the level of IGD and to examine its correlations with sociodemographic factors and psychological comorbidities among undergraduate students in a Malaysian university. Methods: A total of 411 undergraduate students completed an online questionnaire. They were selected from a random sample of participating university faculties. The online questionnaire contained the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form and the Depression, Anxiety, Stress Scale. Results: The presents study reported that 52.8% of the participants had high IGH. Using hierarchical multiple regression, age (β = -0.09, p < 0.05), gender (β = -0.40, p < 0.001) and stress (β = 0.23, p < 0.05) were statistically significant predictors of IGD. Academic performance, depression and anxiety did not emerge as significant predictors. Conclusion: These findings highlight the risk factors (in particular, stress) of IGD. Further studies on interventions, particular that of preventative strategies, will be needed to combat this emerging public health problem.
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La evidencia para el diagnóstico y el manejo del trastorno por juego en Internet está creciendo. Factores psicológicos y biológicos están involucrados en su etiopatogenia y estos factores pueden presentar diferentes niveles de contribución al trastorno dependiendo del género del paciente. Teniendo en cuenta que la tasa de individuos masculinos en comparación con la tasa femenina en el trastorno por juego en Internet es de aproximadamente 3:1 y que la mayoría de los estudios disponibles se realizan en poblaciones predominantemente masculinas, se realizó una revisión narrativa, no sistemática, centrada en literatura primaria y seleccionada de una búsqueda en las bases de datos PubMed y SciELO. Los términos clave que se utilizaron fueron los siguientes: "Internet Gaming Disorder" y "Internet Gaming Disorder and Gender". Todos los miembros del equipo de investigación participaron en la revisión de la literatura. Todo lo anterior se realizó a fin de presentar una imagen general sobre las diferencias de género en los juegos en línea, que pueda servir para mejorar los conocimientos de los trabajadores de la salud mental sobre este desafiante grupo de pacientes.
The body of evidence for Internet Gaming Disorder is growing. Both psychological and biological factors are involved in its etiopathogenesis and these factors may present different levels of contribution to the disorder depending on the gender of the patient. Taking into account that the rate of male individuals compared with the female rate in the Internet Gaming Disorder is about 3:1 and that most of the available studies are done in predominantly male populations, a non-systematic narrative review was done, focused on primary literature and selected from a search in PubMed and SciELO databases. The key terms used were: "Internet gaming disorder" and "Internet gaming disorder and gender". All members of the research team participated in the review of the literature. All the above was done in order to present a general picture about gender differences in online games, which can be used to improve the knowledge of mental health workers about this challenging group of patients.
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Video Games/adverse effects , Mental Disorders , Women , MenABSTRACT
Background: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) refers to the problematic use of on-line or off-line video games. Presently the prevalence of IGD among the adolescent group was between 1.3% to 19.9% and males reported more prevalence than females. Aims of this study was to know the prevalence and the various factors associated with the development IGD among adolescents.Methods: Settings and Design was to a cross sectional study was conducted among students of High schools for a period of 3 months from July 2018 - September 2018. Four hundred adolescent students were included in the study. English version of the DSM–5 short (9-item) dichotomous scale with cut-off point of five or more criteria was used for diagnosing the IGD.Statistical analysis used descriptive statistics were represented with frequencies and percentages. Chi-square and Fisher Exact tests were applied to find significance difference. P<0.05 was considered as statistically significant.Results: An overall prevalence estimate of IGD was 3.50% among the school children and it is higher among male students (8.8%) than female students (0.8%) and it was found statistically significant with a p value of <0.001.Conclusions: The prevalence differences between Age groups, gender, class of the student and availability of smart phone with internet facility act as an important risk factors for the occurrence of IGD among adolescents.
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Background: Internet gaming disorder is the public health concern globally due to its detrimental effects on the youth to an extreme of provoking them to suicide. As we lack studies in India highlighting this issue we have taken up a study to assess internet gaming disorder among medical graduates and validate the Internet gaming disorder-20 (IGD-20) scale. Methods: A cross-sectional study done on 200 first and second year medical students of Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool during February and March, 2019 using self-administered questionnaire containing IGD-20 which satisfies Griffith’s biopsychosocial component model and questions to assess socio behaviour changes. Data entered and analysed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive analysis, reliability tests, correlation and other appropriate significant tests used. Results: Prevalence of internet gaming disorder was 10%, more in male and who spend more than 30 hours per week on gaming which was statistically significant. Internal consistency of the IGD-20 was 0.91 Cronbach’s alpha. Socio-behavioural changes like aggressiveness, irritability and change in food patterns were significantly associated with excessive disordered gaming habit. Conclusions: Advanced technology as electronic gadgets, easily accessible networks are attracting the generation and making them addicted to it. Stress of the competitive world, loneliness is triggering this behaviour. Timely detection and management of the disordered gamers, scrutiny of parents on the internet gaming usage pattern of their kids, self-realisation and motivation towards physical games could help the youth to succumb the internet gaming disorder.
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Internet gaming disorder (IGD) refers to individuals who are extremely dependent on online games and can’t control the game time reasonably.Generally, individuals with IGD also display withdrawal symptoms when they do not play games.Combined with previous studies, this paper discussed the cognitive dysfunction and neural mechanisms of IGD individuals, including executive function, reward system and emotional regulation dysfunction.First of all, executive function is a high-level cognitive processing ability that involves cognitive and behavioral processes.Cognitive control is often associated with the individual's goal-directed behavior and the ability to flexibly apply the high-level cognitive function. Repeated and excessive game behaviors of IGD individuals may be associated with their abnormal cognitive control and decision-making functions. And the attention process as another important component of executive function. The persistent addictive behavior in individuals with IGD were associated with a bias toward attention to game-related cues.Also, IGD individuals show differences in executive function abnormalities such as decision-making and dominance response inhibition, suggesting that there is a separation between "cold" and "hot" executive function abnormalities, and this feature may also be associated with other cognitive dysfunctions. Secondly, reward incentives play an important role in individual motivational learning and goal-oriented behavior. The increased sensitivity of IGD individuals to reward stimuli in various types of reward and punishment stimuli suggests that their reward system is abnormal.Finally, emotional regulation is an important cognitive function that is closely related to executive function. The anxiety and depression manifested by IGD individuals are often associated with their inability to apply emotional regulation strategies flexibly. It is difficult for individuals with IGD applied emotional regulation strategies flexibly, and inappropriate emotional regulation strategies and emotional responses suggest abnormal mood regulation. To sum up, cognitive dysfunction was not only the basis of IGD addiction symptoms, but also one of the important factors of its symptom maintenance. In addition, the further research prospects included expanded sampling population, deepening neural mechanism research and physical intervention are proposed for the lack of previous research in the last part of the article.
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OBJECTIVES: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is associated with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or depression etc. We tried to examine the mediating effects of depression in the relationship between ADHD and IGD.METHODS: This study was conducted on 2000 people who participated in on-line survey among 14–39 year-old men and women in 2017. And we clarified the relationship among IGD, ADHD, and depression and tested the mediation model. The mean and standard deviation of the main variables were calculated and correlation analysis was performed to confirm the relationship among the main variables. In order to test the mediating effect of depression on the relationship between ADHD and IGD, the structural equation model was implemented using AMOS 21 (IBM).RESULTS: There were significant correlations among the variables; IGD, ADHD and depression. Depression had a mediating effect 0.23 (95% confidence interval : 0.17–0.28) in the relationship between IGD and ADHD.CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that depression can mediate ADHD and IGD. Therefore, the evaluation and management of depression and ADHD should be included in the diagnosis and treatment of IGD.
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Female , Humans , Male , Depression , Diagnosis , Immunoglobulin D , Internet , NegotiatingABSTRACT
Internet gaming disorder (IGD) refers to individuals who are extremely dependent on online games and can't control the game time reasonably.Generally,individuals with IGD also display withdrawal symptoms when they do not play games.Combined with previous studies,this paper discussed the cognitive dysfunction and neural mechanisms of IGD individuals,including executive function,reward system and emotional regulation dysfunction.First of all,executive function is a high-level cognitive processing ability that involves cognitive and behavioral processes.Cognitive control is often associated with the individual's goal-directed behavior and the ability to flexibly apply the high-level cognitive function.Repeated and excessive game behaviors of IGD individuals may be associated with their abnormal cognitive control and decisionmaking functions.And the attention process as another important component of executive function.The persistent addictive behavior in individuals with IGD were associated with a bias toward attention to game-related cues.Also,IGD individuals show differences in executive function abnormalities such as decision-making and dominance response inhibition,suggesting that there is a separation between "cold" and "hot" executive function abnormalities,and this feature may also be associated with other cognitive dysfunctions.Secondly,reward incentives play an important role in individual motivational learning and goal-oriented behavior.The increased sensitivity of IGD individuals to reward stimuli in various types of reward and punishment stimuli suggests that their reward system is abnormal.Finally,emotional regulation is an important cognitive function that is closely related to executive function.The anxiety and depression manifested by IGD individuals are often associated with their inability to apply emotional regulation strategies flexibly.It is difficult for individuals with IGD applied emotional regulation strategies flexibly,and inappropriate emotional regulation strategies and emotional responses suggest abnormal mood regulation.To sum up,cognitive dysfunction was not only the basis of IGD addiction symptoms,but also one of the important factors of its symptom maintenance.In addition,the further research prospects included expanded sampling population,deepening neural mechanism research and physical intervention are proposed for the lack of previous research in the last part of the article.
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With the rapid development of internet technology, internet gaming disorder (IGD) has become a global mental health problem. At present, most of the researches on IGD focus on three aspects, i.e. reward system, suppression control and intertemporal decision-making. With the development of cognitive neuroscience, it becomes popular to use electroencephalogram (EEG), MRI and PET in exploring the neural mechanism of IGD. Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that brain structure and function of IGD patients both changed accordingly compared with healthy controls. Besides, the degree of brain damage is related to the duration of addictive behavior. The recent work in cognitive function and neuroimaging researches of IGD were reviewed in this article, highlighting research methods and corresponding results, in order to provide references for further exploration and scientific research in this area.
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Quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) has a long history and its clinical usefulness has gradually become well known. QEEG is a noninvasive, easy, comfortable and inexpensive way to check the brain status, but it is not specific to a diagnosis and requires sufficient experience in its clinical interpretation. The techniques and parameters of QEEG are increasingly being developed and studied, so their utilization will become more widespread in the future. QEEG in addiction disorders has not been fully studied, but it has many possibilities. The symptoms of addiction disorder and QEEG characteristics in some addictions show features that are clinically beneficial to diagnosis and treatment. Various complementary studies in the future are expected to make it more useful in clinics.
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Alcoholism , Brain , Diagnosis , ElectroencephalographyABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Studying immigrants may have the potential to explore how cultural and environmental changes affect the internet game play patterns of individuals in the two countries. We planned to compare risk and preventive factors for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) between Korean adolescents in Korea and immigrant Koreans in the US. METHODS: Ninety-four Koreans and 133 immigrant Koreans were recruited. Independent factors consisted of five domains including demographic data, physical activity, academic, art, and music activities, psychological factors, and game and media play. The dependent variable in the current study was the high-risk group of IGD, which was assessed with Young’s Internet Addiction Scale scores. To determine the protective and risk factors for IGD, we performed a multiple logistic regression analysis using the high-risk group as the dependent variable. RESULTS: Five domains affected the risk for IGD in Korean and immigrant Korean groups. Vigorous physical activity was the strongest protective factor for IGD in the Korean group, while media activity was the strongest protective factor for IGD in immigrant Koreans in the US. CONCLUSION: The results indicate that internet gaming problems might be affected by environmental factors and it is recommended that gaming activity is substituted with physical activity, extracurricular classes, books, and music.
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Adolescent , Humans , Emigrants and Immigrants , Immunoglobulin D , Internet , Korea , Logistic Models , Motor Activity , Music , Protective Factors , Psychology , Risk Factors , United StatesABSTRACT
Problematic Internet use (PIU) among students has become a significant mental health concern. Our goals were to review the existing studies on problematic Internet from Southeast Asian Region and examine: the prevalence for PIU among students; explore for sociodemographic and clinical correlates; and assess the physical, mental, and psychosocial impact of PIU in this population. All studies conducted among population of the Southeast Asia, involving students (school students to postgraduate students) of any age which explored etiological factors and/or the prevalence or any other factor associated with PIU/Internet addiction were considered eligible for the present review. The electronic databases of PubMed and Google Scholar were systematically searched for the relevant published studies up to and including October 2016. Our search strategy yielded 549 articles, 295 of which were eligible for screening based on their publication in English language in a peer-reviewed journal. Of these, a total of 38 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. The prevalence of severe PIU/Internet addiction ranged from 0 to 47.4%, whereas the prevalence of Internet overuse/possible Internet addiction ranged from 7.4% to 46.4% among students from Southeast Asia. Physical impairments in the form of insomnia (26.8%), daytime sleepiness (20%), and eye strain (19%) were also reported among problem users. There is a need to conduct further research in this area to explore the protective and risk factors associated with it and also longitudinally assess the trajectories of the outcome.
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OBJECTIVE: Prospective data of risky online gamers in Turkey is missing. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the change in gaming behaviors and addiction rates of Travian players within two years to search diagnostic stability of internet gaming disorder and some psychosocial risk factors. METHODS: 110 responders completed the whole questionnaire package including 21-item Game Addiction Scale (GAS), Satisfaction with Life Scale (SLS), Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and Multi-dimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS). A hierarchical linear modeling approach was followed to test the linear change in game addiction scores of the participants from 2013 to 2015. RESULTS: GAS scores of gamers significantly decreased within two years (p=0.026). MSPSS scores significantly and negatively associated with GAS scores (p < 0.001) and the negative association of time remained significant (p=0.035). Decrement in the MSPSS scores in two years was associated with increment in GAS scores. 9 (90%) of 10 participants with internet gaming disorder according to monothetic format and 26 (52%) of 50 participants with internet gaming disorder according to polythetic format were found to not to meet the diagnosis in the follow-up. 33 out of all participants reported that they were not playing any online games for at least last 6 months. CONCLUSION: Social support seems to be a protective factor for game addiction and diagnosis of internet gaming disorder has low temporal stability among Travian players in Turkey.
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Diagnosis , Follow-Up Studies , Internet , Linear Models , Prospective Studies , Protective Factors , Risk Factors , TurkeyABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Alteration in glutamatergic neurotransmission and dopaminergic dysfunction has been implicated in both the initiation and expression of addiction related behaviors. This pilot study was aimed to investigate the serum levels of glutamate and dopamine in adults with internet gaming disorder (IGD). METHODS: We measured serum levels of glutamate and dopamine in male participants with IGD (n=26) and age-matched healthy controls (n=25). Clinical interviews were performed to identify IGD and to rule out psychiatric comorbidities. Serum levels of glutamate and dopamine were examined by enzyme immunoassays using ELISA Kits. RESULTS: Serum levels of glutamate were lower among IGD than control (IGD: 24.184±12.303 μg/ml; control: 33.676±12.413μg/ml; t=2.742, p=0.008), while levels of dopamine did not differ between. Serum glutamate and dopamine levels did not correlate with gaming hours and exposure to game in the IGD group. But serum glutamate levels were positively correlated with the dopamine levels (r=0.360, p=0.013). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that altered glutamatergic neurotransmission may contribute to the pathophysiology of IGD.
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Adult , Humans , Male , Comorbidity , Dopamine , Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay , Glutamates , Glutamic Acid , Immunoenzyme Techniques , Immunoglobulin D , Internet , Pilot Projects , Synaptic TransmissionABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Previous studies have reported that internet addiction (IA) is associated with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) consistently. However, in terms of gender, there are controversial findings. We aimed to investigate the relation between IA and self-acknowledged ADHD traits among female college students in Japan. METHODS: The study questionnaire consisted of questions about demographics, Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale-V1.1 Part A (ADHD screener) and Young's Internet Addiction Test (IAT). When four or more items are more frequent than the cut-off on ADHD screener, the subject was categorized into students with a positive ADHD screen. We defined students with total IAT score of 70 and higher as IA. RESULTS: A total number of respondents was 369 (mean age: 19.0±0.7 years). Seventy-seven subjects were screened positive on ADHD screener (20.9%). Students with a positive ADHD screen scored significantly higher on the IAT (54.2±14.2 vs. 42.5±11.3). The rates of IA in students with and without a positive ADHD screen were 18.2% and 1.0%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Results of this study demonstrated the relation between IA and self-evaluated ADHD traits among female college students in Japan. Appropriate education for students on how to use the internet properly will be necessary to prevent IA.
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Adult , Female , Humans , Demography , Education , Internet , Japan , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is known to be related to stress and the serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) that is known to be associated with stress and has been studied to affect various psychiatric illness outbreaks. We tried to examine the relationship between stress, 5-HTTLPR and IGD. METHODS: A total of 59 participants with IGD, diagnosed according to the 5th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria and 67 normal controls (NC) were enrolled. The IGD group and the NC were compared using chisquare test and independent sample t-test, and logistic regression analysis was used to examine the relationship between stress, the 5-HTTLPR, and IGD. RESULTS: The mean scores for anxiety, impulsivity and stress were significantly higher in the IGD group than in the NC. In addition, there was a significant association between stress and IGD [odds ratio (OR) = 1.172, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.008–1.362]. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that stress would affect IGD. Therefore, the evaluation and management of stress should be included in the diagnosis and treatment of IGD.
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Adult , Humans , Anxiety , Diagnosis , Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders , Disease Outbreaks , Immunoglobulin D , Impulsive Behavior , Internet , Logistic ModelsABSTRACT
Due to the increasing use of the internet, various social problems have been emerging, and one of them is internet gaming disorder (IGD). The purpose of this study was to investigate whether low internal motivation was present in IGD and basic psychological needs affected internal motivation. Twenty-one individuals with IGD and 21 healthy controls performed a ‘motivation task’ in which the avatar in virtual reality asked whether they would accept an activity in two conditions stimulating intrinsic or extrinsic motivation. The task performance was compared between the two groups, and was correlated with the Basic Psychological Needs Scale scores. Patients had a significantly lower acceptance rate of the proposal in the intrinsic motivation condition than controls, and this intrinsic motivated tendency was correlated with the satisfaction in their basic psychological needs. As with other substance use disorders, IGD was associated with a lower level of internal motivation, which was related to the dissatisfaction of basic psychological needs such as autonomy, competence, and relationship.
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Humans , Immunoglobulin D , Internet , Mental Competency , Motivation , Social Problems , Substance-Related Disorders , Task Performance and AnalysisABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To explore the structure of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) criteria and their distribution according to the different severity level of IGD. The associations of psychiatric comorbidities to each IGD symptom and to the IGD severity were also investigated. METHODS: Consecutively recruited 330 Korean middle school students underwent face-to-face diagnostic interviews to assess their gaming problems by clinicians. The psychiatric comorbidities were also evaluated with a semi-structured instrument. The data was analyzed using principal components analysis and the distribution of criteria among different severity groups was visualized by plotting univariate curves. RESULTS: Two principal components of ‘Compulsivity’ and ‘Tolerance’ were extracted. ‘Decrease in other activities’ and ‘Jeopardizing relationship/career’ may indicate a higher severity of IGD. While ‘Craving’ deserved more recognition in clinical utility, ‘Tolerance’ did not demonstrate much difference in distribution by the IGD severity. Internalizing and externalizing psychiatric disorders differed in distribution by the IGD severity. CONCLUSION: A hierarchic presentation of IGD criteria was revealed. ‘Decrease in other activities’ and ‘Jeopardizing relationship/career’ may represent a higher severity, thus indicating more clinical attention to such symptoms. However, ‘Tolerance’ was not found to be a valid diagnostic criterion.