Abstract
Background: An association between gaming disorder (GD) and the symptoms of common mental disorders is unraveled yet. In this preregistered study, we quantitatively synthesized reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of GD scales to examine association between GD and other constructs.Methods: Five representative GD instruments (GAS-7, AICA, IGDT-10, Lemmens IGD-9, and IGDS9-SF) were chosen based on recommendations by the previous systematic review study to conduct correlation meta-analyses and reliability generalization. A systematic literature search was conducted through Pubmed, Proquest, Embase, and Google Scholar to identify studies that reported information on either reliability or correlation with related variables. 2,124 studies were full-text assessed as of October 2020, and 184 were quantitatively synthesized. Conventional Hedges two-level meta-analytic method was utilized.Results: The result of reliability generalization reported a mean coefficient alpha of 0.86 (95% CI = 0.85–0.87) and a mean test-retest estimate of 0.86 (95% CI = 0.81–0.89). Estimated effect sizes of correlation between GD and the variables were as follows: 0.33 with depression (k = 45; number of effect sizes), 0.29 with anxiety (k = 37), 0.30 with aggression (k = 19), –0.22 with quality of life (k = 18), 0.29 with loneliness (k = 18), 0.56 with internet addiction (k = 20), and 0.40 with game playtime (k = 53), respectively. The result of moderator analyses, funnel and forest plots, and publication bias analyses were also presented.Discussion and Conclusion: All five GD instruments have good internal consistency and test-retest reliability. Relatively few studies reported the test-retest reliability. The result of correlation meta-analysis revealed that GD scores were only moderately associated with game playtime. Common psychological problems such as depression and anxiety were found to have a slightly smaller association with GD than the gaming behavior. GD scores were strongly correlated with internet addiction. Further studies should adopt a rigorous methodological procedure to unravel the bidirectional relationship between GD and other psychopathologies.Limitations: The current study did not include gray literature. The representativeness of the five tools included in the current study could be questioned. High heterogeneity is another limitation of the study.Systematic Review Registration: [https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/], identifier [CRD42020219781].
Highlights
Since games are one of the most popular leisure activities worldwide, they are available almost everywhere via computers, mobile phones, and tablets
We focused on construct validity among several aspects of validity since convergent and discriminant validity provide information on the association between gaming disorder (GD) and other constructs
The current study was conducted based on the PRISMA statement (Moher et al, 2009; Page et al, 2021) and recommendations received for the correlational meta-analyses (Quintana, 2015)
Summary
Since games are one of the most popular leisure activities worldwide, they are available almost everywhere via computers, mobile phones, and tablets. American Psychiatric Association (2013) has already introduced the provisional diagnostic criteria for internet gaming disorder in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5). Despite the few discrepancies in the diagnostic criteria for GD in ICD-11 and DSM-5, the common symptoms of GD include continuation of gaming and impaired control over gaming behavior, which result in functional impairments (Jo et al, 2019). An association between gaming disorder (GD) and the symptoms of common mental disorders is unraveled yet. In this preregistered study, we quantitatively synthesized reliability, convergent and discriminant validity of GD scales to examine association between GD and other constructs
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