Reconsidering item response categories in gaming disorder symptoms measurement.

Gaming disorder (GD) screening often involves self-report survey measures to detect the presence of symptoms. Studies have shown that gamers' responses vary greatly across survey items. Some symptoms, such as preoccupation and tolerance, are frequently reported by highly engaged but non-problematic gamers, and therefore these symptoms are thought to lack specificity and are suggested to be less important in classification decisions. We argue that the influence of response categories (e.g., dichotomous responses, such as 'yes' or 'no'; or frequency categories, such as 'rarely' and 'often') on item responses has been relatively underexplored despite potentially contributing significantly to the psychometric performance of items and scales. In short, the type of item response may be just as important to symptom reporting as the content of survey questions. We propose some practical alternatives to currently used item categories across GD tools. Research should examine the performance of different response categories, including whether certain response categories aid respondents' comprehension and insight, and better capture pathological behaviours and harms.

Problematic Gaming during COVID-19 Pandemic: A Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis, and Meta-Regression.

The COVID-19 pandemic led to government measures enforcing isolation in order to mitigate the spread of the virus. Consequently, online activities, including gaming, increased during this challenging period. Thus, it was possible that problematic gaming (PG) patterns also increased. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we estimated the prevalence of PG during the COVID-19 pandemic and examined differences among subpopulations. The evaluation of 38 studies revealed that the overall prevalence of PG during the COVID-19 pandemic was 3.6%. Furthermore, higher PG scores were found in undergraduate and gamer subpopulations, as well as in studies using the Gaming Addiction Scale. Finally, meta-regression analyses suggest that stricter government measures, as identified by the Government Stringency Index, may have contributed to a lower prevalence of PG behaviors. A potential explanation of this finding is that containment measures had a protective function with respect to emotional distress, and thus towards PG; alternatively, it could be that current measures for PG become less precise if an individual's functioning is already impaired due to other reasons, such as COVID-19 restrictions. Further theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

Predictors of Cyberchondria During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Cross-sectional Study Using Supervised Machine Learning.

BACKGROUND: Cyberchondria is characterized by repeated and compulsive online searches for health information, resulting in increased health anxiety and distress. It has been conceptualized as a multidimensional construct fueled by both anxiety and compulsivity-related factors and described as a "transdiagnostic compulsive behavioral syndrome," which is associated with health anxiety, problematic internet use, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Cyberchondria is not included in the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision or the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition, and its defining features, etiological mechanisms, and assessment continue to be debated. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to investigate changes in the severity of cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic and identify the predictors of cyberchondria at this time. METHODS: Data collection started on May 4, 2020, and ended on June 10, 2020, which corresponds to the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe. At the time the study took place, French-speaking countries in Europe (France, Switzerland, Belgium, and Luxembourg) all implemented lockdown or semilockdown measures. The survey consisted of a questionnaire collecting demographic information (sex, age, education level, and country of residence) and information about socioeconomic circumstances during the first lockdown (eg, economic situation, housing, and employment status) and was followed by several instruments assessing various psychological and health-related constructs. Inclusion criteria for the study were being at least 18 years of age and having a good understanding of French. Self-report data were collected from 725 participants aged 18-77 (mean 33.29, SD 12.88) years, with females constituting the majority (416/725, 57.4%). RESULTS: The results showed that the COVID-19 pandemic affected various facets of cyberchondria: cyberchondria-related distress and compulsion increased (distress z=-3.651, P<.001; compulsion z=-5.697, P<.001), whereas the reassurance facet of cyberchondria decreased (z=-6.680, P<.001). In addition, COVID-19-related fears and health anxiety emerged as the strongest predictors of cyberchondria-related distress and interference with functioning during the pandemic. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cyberchondria and identify factors that should be considered in efforts to prevent and manage cyberchondria at times of public health crises. In addition, they are consistent with a theoretical model of cyberchondria during the COVID-19 pandemic proposed in 2020. These findings have implications for the conceptualization and future assessment of cyberchondria.

Online Gaming and Prolonged Self-Isolation: Evidence from Italian Gamers During the Covid-19 Outbreak.

OBJECTIVE: The self-isolation measures employed during the COVID-19 pandemic made it dificult for basic needs to be met, thus increasing emotional distress. It has been suggested that socially meaningful online gaming bufered emotional distress during the lockdown. This study aimed to test the protective effect of online gaming during the lockdown and to investigate the diferences between highly involved gamers (those who play videogames intensely without adverse consequences) and problematic gamers in this regard. METHOD: Capitalizing on a data collection that started before the pandemic, we adopted a cross-sectional between-groups study design in which gaming patterns, gaming-related variables and levels of emotional distress were compared between a pre-COVID group (N=298) and a COVID group (N=366). RESULTS: Compared to the pre-COVID group, high involvement in gaming was more prominent and emotional distress was decreased in the COVID group. Moderated regression analyses further revealed that the interaction between social compensation via gaming and highly involved gaming was associated with lower levels of emotional distress in the COVID-19 group. In contrast, the interaction between gaming-related relaxation and problematic gaming predicted higher emotional distress in the COVID-19 group. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that gaming for social compensation might mitigate the experienced emotional distress during pandemic related self-isolation, whereas maladaptive gaming patterns could constitute a vulnerability factor deserving clinical attention.

"Diagnostic inflation" will not resolve taxonomical problems in the study of addictive online behaviours. •.

This article suggests that the type of Internet-enabled device should not be prioritised when conceptualizing diagnostic categories of addictive online behaviours. The diagnostic distinction between "predominantly mobile" and "predominantly non-mobile" forms of Internet use disorders (IUD) is not empirically based, may not be clinically useful and may lead to "diagnostic inflation." Problems with the concepts of smartphone use disorder and IUD on which the proposed distinction is largely based call for their re-examination. Future proposals for the taxonomy of addictive behaviours may not need to be based on online/offline and mobile/non-mobile dichotomies.

Multidimensional Assessment of COVID-19-Related Fears (MAC-RF): A Theory-Based Instrument for the Assessment of Clinically Relevant Fears During Pandemics.

In this article, we present the development and psychometric properties of the Multidimensional Assessment of COVID-19--Related Fears (MAC-RF). The MAC-RF is an eight-item, self-report scale that has been developed to assess clinically relevant domains of fear during the COVID-19 pandemic. The MAC-RF is based on a comprehensive theoretical model conceptualizing fears during the pandemics as resulting from an interaction of bodily, interpersonal, cognitive, and behavioral experiences. The MAC-RF was administered to a sample of 623 Italian adults from the community aged between 18 and 76 years old (M= 35.67, SD= 12.93), along with a measure of current clinical symptoms. Item response theory analyses demonstrated that each item of the MAC-RF provided sufficient information about the underlying construct of fear. The statistical fit of the scale was satisfactory. MAC-RF total scores correlated significantly and positively with total scores on the measure of psychopathology and with the clinical symptom domain scores. A ROC (receiver operating characteristic) curve analysis showed that the MAC-RF total score was sufficiently able to identify cases with high levels of current psychopathology, with an area under the curve of.76. These findings suggest that the MAC-RF can be used to assess pathological fear during pandemics. The English, Italian, and French versions of the MAC-RF are annexed to this article for use by clinicians and health services.

Problematic video game use as an emotional coping strategy: Evidence from a sample of MMORPG gamers.

BACKGROUND: A positive relationship between problematic gaming and escapism motivation to play video games has been well established, suggesting that problematic gaming may result from attempts to deal with negative emotions. However, to date, no study has examined how emotion dysregulation affects both escapism motives and problematic gaming patterns. METHODS: Difficulties in emotion regulation, escapism, and problematic involvement with video games were assessed in a sample of 390 World of Warcraft players. A structural equation modeling framework was used to test the hypothesis that escapism mediates the relationship between emotion dysregulation and problematic gaming. RESULTS: Statistical analyses showed that difficulties in emotion regulation predicted both escapism motives and problematic gaming, and that escapism partially mediated this relationship. CONCLUSION: Our findings support the view that problematic players are likely to escape in online games as a maladaptive coping strategy for dealing with adverse emotional experiences.