Abstract
In recent years there have been growing concerns about problematic Internet use (PIU) as potential mental health problem. Among the many activities available on the Internet, the time spent gaming appears one of the most frequent risk factors in developing PIU. The aim of the current study was to model the relationship between negative affect, metacognitions about online gaming, frequency of online gaming and PIU. A total of 326 Italian gamers (mean age = 27 years, SD = 5.65 years; 93.3% males) participated in the study. The pattern of relationships specified by the theoretical model was examined through path analysis. Results showed that negative affect was directly associated with all other variables. Specifically, positive, strong and direct associations were found between negative affect and both positive and negative metacognitions about online gaming. Moreover, negative metacognitions about online gaming were strongly linked to PIU. Overall, the theoretical model was supported showing that metacognitions about online gaming may play a role in the association between time spent on online gaming to a broader pattern of PIU. Results are discussed within the context of the metacognitive model of psychopathology and clinical implications based on this model are outlined.
Highlights
Problematic Internet use (PIU; e.g. Young 1998; Spada 2014) has been defined as the unregulated use of the Internet which gives rise to psychological, social, school and/or work impairments in a users’ life (e.g. Beard and Wolf 2001; Moreno et al 2019)
A strong positive correlation was found between PIU and weekly online gaming hours spent gaming, and between negative affect and metacognitions about online gaming
The aim of this study was to test the statistical fit of a metacognitive model of the interplay between negative affect, metacognitions about online gaming, weekly online gaming hours and PIU
Summary
Problematic Internet use (PIU; e.g. Young 1998; Spada 2014) has been defined as the unregulated use of the Internet which gives rise to psychological, social, school and/or work impairments in a users’ life (e.g. Beard and Wolf 2001; Moreno et al 2019). It has been showed that PIU is related to time spent online, leading to a series of more severe negative consequences which include an increase in negative emotions, higher levels of self-regulation failures, and loss of relationships, career and school opportunities (Laconi et al 2018). The ICD-11 defined gaming disorder as a persistent and recurrent participation in digital- and video-gaming (both online and offline) which is characterized by: (1) impairment in controlling gaming behaviours, including time spent gaming and duration; (2) increasing salience of gaming to the extent to which it is preferred to other relevant activities; and (3) significant impairment in daily life (family, school, and work) and health as well as continuation of gaming despite negative consequences. Since only a small minority of gamers suffer with IGD, the WHO suggested that monitoring the amount of time gamers spend gaming is important as the difficulties in regulating such time might result in developing a problematic pattern of (Internet-related) gaming behaviour
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