Abstract
BackgroundOver the last decade, there has been growing concern about ‘gaming addiction’ and its widely documented detrimental impacts on a minority of individuals that play excessively. The latest (fifth) edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) included nine criteria for the potential diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and noted that it was a condition that warranted further empirical study. Aim: The main aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable standardised psychometrically robust tool in addition to providing empirically supported cut-off points.MethodsA sample of 1003 gamers (85.2% males; mean age 26 years) from 57 different countries were recruited via online gaming forums. Validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), criterion-related validity, and concurrent validity. Latent profile analysis was also carried to distinguish disordered gamers from non-disordered gamers. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed to determine an empirical cut-off for the test.ResultsThe CFA confirmed the viability of IGD-20 Test with a six-factor structure (salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict and relapse) for the assessment of IGD according to the nine criteria from DSM-5. The IGD-20 Test proved to be valid and reliable. According to the latent profile analysis, 5.3% of the total participants were classed as disordered gamers. Additionally, an optimal empirical cut-off of 71 points (out of 100) seemed to be adequate according to the sensitivity and specificity analyses carried.ConclusionsThe present findings support the viability of the IGD-20 Test as an adequate standardised psychometrically robust tool for assessing internet gaming disorder. Consequently, the new instrument represents the first step towards unification and consensus in the field of gaming studies.
Highlights
Over the last decade, there has been growing worldwide concern from researchers about ‘gaming addiction’
There has been growing worldwide concern from researchers about ‘gaming addiction’. Official bodies such as the American Psychiatric Association [1] and numerous scholars [2,3,4,5] have suggested the need for unification and consensus for the assessment of gaming addiction if this phenomenon is to be considered as an independent clinical entity in the future
Based on the need for a unified psychometrically sound measurement tool for the assessment of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), the present study aimed to develop and construct the IGD20 Test based on a solid theoretical framework integrating in its model the nine IGD criteria presented in the DSM-5 as proposed by the American Psychiatric Association [1]
Summary
There has been growing worldwide concern from researchers about ‘gaming addiction’. This problem may be reflected by the heterogeneity of nomenclatures used by researchers to address the same phenomenon including such terms as video game addiction [8], computer game playing dependence [9], internet addiction disorder [10], video game dependency [11], problematic online gaming [12], and pathological video-game use [13] In addition to these issues, most psychometric tools developed for assessing behavioural addictions (including gaming addiction) have either used an ad hoc cut-off point or lacked a strong empirical base for establishing such cut-off points. Aim: The main aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable standardised psychometrically robust tool in addition to providing empirically supported cut-off points
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