Disordered gaming in esports: Comparing professional and non-professional gamers.
Addict Behav
; 132: 107342, 2022 09.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-1803340
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION:
The American Psychiatric Association (APA) proposed 'Internet Gaming Disorder' (IGD) as a tentative disorder (APA framework) in 2013 and in 2019 the World Health Organization (WHO) has fully recognized 'Gaming Disorder' (GD) as a mental health disorder (WHO framework). These two frameworks have not yet been jointly investigated in the context of esports. The present study aims to investigate the feasibility of the APA and WHO frameworks for disordered gaming among professional and non-professional gamers and to ascertain the suitability of existing psychometric tools for use in esports.METHODS:
A sample of 5,734 gamers (Mage = 21.47 years, SD = 6.69 years; 6.94% female) recruited through an online survey prior to the COVID-19 pandemic that included an age and gender matched group of professional (n = 2,867) and non-professional gamers (n = 2,867) was investigated. Pairwise comparisons, measurement invariance (MI), and latent mean difference tests were conducted to distinguish the two groups of gamers.RESULTS:
Overall, professional gamers showed greater time spent gaming and prevalence of disordered gaming than non-professional gamers. Additionally, MI was supported and both disordered gaming levels and latent means were significantly higher among professional gamers when compared to non-professional gamers across both APA and WHO frameworks.CONCLUSIONS:
Esports is cross-sectionally associated with greater disordered gaming vulnerability through increased time spent gaming and disordered gaming prevalence rates. Furthermore, the APA and WHO frameworks are viable in the context of esports gaming with existing assessment tools being effective in the assessment of disordered gaming in esports. The results and implications are further discussed in light of the extant literature.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Behavior, Addictive
/
Video Games
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Experimental Studies
/
Observational study
/
Qualitative research
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Adult
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
/
Young adult
Language:
English
Journal:
Addict Behav
Year:
2022
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.addbeh.2022.107342
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