Abstract
Gaming Disorder (GD) has been recently added to the eleventh revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11) by the World Health Organization (WHO), as such, psychometrically sound psychological measures are required to assess this disorder. The objective of this study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the Spanish Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) by assessing its dimensionality, reliability, convergent validity, and associations with other variables of importance through polytomous Item Response Theory (IRT) and Measurement Invariance (MI) analysis across genders. To achieve this, a sample of 538 gamers (42.94% female, meanage = 23.29 years, SD = 7.24) was recruited. The results obtained supported a one-factor structure for the Spanish GDT with adequate reliability and convergent validity. Furthermore, satisfactory goodness of fit in the partial credit model (PCM) with more precise scores at high trait levels to assess GD was found, and strict invariance across genders was supported. These findings attest to the suitability of the Spanish GDT for clinical assessment and research on disordered gaming beyond community samples.
Highlights
Electronic gaming has become widespread and popular worldwide, playing a major role in the leisure and social pursuits of children, adolescents, and adults (Paulus et al, 2018; Pontes, 2018)
The inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder” (IGD) in the DSM-5 was the first key milestone for research examining the addictive effects of video games, but the culmination of scientific effort regarding its conceptualization and legitimacy was formalized by the inclusion of Gaming Disorder” (GD) in the ICD-11 and its official recognition as an addictive disorder by the World Health Organization (WHO) (Pontes & Griffiths, 2020)
A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was carried out on the four items of the Spanish Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) in order to test the unidimensionality of the scale
Summary
Electronic gaming has become widespread and popular worldwide, playing a major role in the leisure and social pursuits of children, adolescents, and adults (Paulus et al, 2018; Pontes, 2018). The inclusion of IGD in the DSM-5 was the first key milestone for research examining the addictive effects of video games, but the culmination of scientific effort regarding its conceptualization and legitimacy was formalized by the inclusion of GD in the ICD-11 and its official recognition as an addictive disorder by the WHO (Pontes & Griffiths, 2020) Taking this into account, the APA has specified that IGD may be present upon the endorsement of at least five of the nine following diagnostic criteria within a 12-month timeframe: (1) preoccupation with gaming; (2) withdrawal symptoms when gaming is taken away; (3) tolerance, leading to greater amounts of time gaming; (4) unsuccessful attempts to control gaming involvement; (5) loss of interest in previously enjoyed activities as a result of, and with the exception of games; (6) continued excessive gaming behavior despite awareness of problems; (7) deception of family members, therapists, or significant others regarding the amount of gaming; (8) gaming in order to escape or relieve negative moods; and (9) jeopardizing or losing a significant relationship, job or education, or career opportunity because of participation in games (APA, 2013)
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