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Theoretical and Empirical Advances in Internet-Related Addictions: Psychosocial Antecedents and Outcomes

A special issue of International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (ISSN 1660-4601). This special issue belongs to the section "Mental Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (26 October 2022) | Viewed by 46829

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences & Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Institute of Collaborative Innovation, University of Macau, Macao, China
Interests: behavioral addictions; health psychology; mental health
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Center for Health Behaviours Research, JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Interests: health psychology; behavioral health research; psychological aspects in disease prevention and management; Internet on health and patient empowerment; mental health in minorities and disease populations
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences & Centre for Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Institute of Collaborative Innovation, University of Macau, Macao, China
Interests: gambling disorder; internet gaming disorder; problematic smartphone use; well-being; responsible gaming; intergroup relations; attitude and behavior change

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

We call for your contribution to the forthcoming Special Issue on Theoretical and Empirical advances in Internet-related Addictions: Psychosocial antecedents and outcomes in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (SSCI IF-2019: 2.849; Q1 in Public, environmental & occupational health category). 

Ever since the first conceptualization of Internet addiction proposed by Young (1996), Internet-related addictions have drawn increasing attention among researchers and spawned various specific genres, including, but not limited to, addictive behaviors in online gaming, online gambling, online shopping, and social media use. One of the milestones in this field is the recognition of gaming disorder as a potential addictive disorder by the American Psychiatric Association (2013) and subsequently as a formal mental disorder by the World Health Organization (2018). We cannot achieve this breakthrough without continued theoretical and empirical investigations on Internet gaming disorder regarding its prevalence, etiology, and outcomes. In view of this, we are organizing a Special Issue on theoretical and empirical advances on Internet-related additions and setting a specific focus on their psychosocial antecedents and outcomes. The selection of psychosocial antecedents, instead of other types of correlates, is based on their malleable potentials for advising cost-effective interventions; while the emphasis on psychosocial outcomes may facilitate future evaluation of whether to include other Internet-related addictions into a formal mental disorder.

We welcome theoretical and empirical studies on all types of Internet-related addictions in the hope of providing readers the latest update of potential risk and protective factors and health outcomes associated with these addictions. We believe high-quality theoretical and empirical studies in this field can eventually lead to the next milestone for Internet-related addictions, and we invite you to take part in the process. To facilitate your decision process, we listed some keywords below, which provide some of the many possibilities.

Prof. Dr. Anise M. S. Wu
Prof. Dr. Phoenix K. H. Mo
Dr. Juliet Honglei Chen
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • addictive behaviors in online gaming, online gambling, online shopping, social networking, and other online activities
  • internet gaming disorder
  • internet addiction and problematic internet use
  • smartphone addiction and problematic smartphone use
  • physical health
  • psychosocial health
  • subjective wellbeing
  • protective and risk factors
  • longitudinal studies
  • cross-sectional studies
  • experimental studies

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Published Papers (13 papers)

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16 pages, 832 KiB  
Article
From Social Networking Site Use to Subjective Well-Being: The Interpersonal and Intrapersonal Mediating Pathways of Prosocial Behavior among Vocational College Students in China
by Bryant Pui Hung Hui, Algae Kit Yee Au, Jacky Chi Kit Ng and Xinmiao Song
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2023, 20(1), 100; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010100 - 21 Dec 2022
Viewed by 2147
Abstract
In view of the growing importance of social networking sites (SNS) to adolescents and the mixed and inconclusive empirical evidence on the relationships between SNS use and their well-being, the present study aimed to investigate the associations of social function use intensity (SFUI) [...] Read more.
In view of the growing importance of social networking sites (SNS) to adolescents and the mixed and inconclusive empirical evidence on the relationships between SNS use and their well-being, the present study aimed to investigate the associations of social function use intensity (SFUI) and entertainment function use intensity (EFUI) with adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem, and examine the mediating roles that general prosocial behavior and school volunteering may play in the links. Drawing from the findings of a self-administered online survey with a valid sample of 3452 adolescents (mean age = 18.21) from 10 vocational colleges across four regions of China, our results demonstrated that there was an indirect positive effect of SFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem via two interpersonal pathways of general prosocial behavior and school volunteering. We also discovered that there was an indirect negative effect of EFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem via an intrapersonal pathway of school volunteering. Our findings provided empirical support for the differential effects of SFUI and EFUI on adolescent life satisfaction and self-esteem through the interpersonal and intrapersonal pathways, and unpacked the mediating roles of general prosocial behavior and school volunteering in these mechanisms. Full article
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10 pages, 1182 KiB  
Article
Prospective Association between Smartphone Addiction and Perceived Stress and Moderation of Boredom during COVID-19 in China
by Jiankang He, Xue Yang, Mingxuan Du, Chengjia Zhao, Xin Wang, Guohua Zhang and Honglei Peng
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(22), 15355; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192215355 - 21 Nov 2022
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2380
Abstract
Smartphone addiction (SPA) is prevalent in college students and harms their healthy development, and perceived stress (PS) has been a well-documented risk factor of SPA. People often experienced boredom during COVID-19; however, its effect on behavioral/mental health during the pandemic has been rarely [...] Read more.
Smartphone addiction (SPA) is prevalent in college students and harms their healthy development, and perceived stress (PS) has been a well-documented risk factor of SPA. People often experienced boredom during COVID-19; however, its effect on behavioral/mental health during the pandemic has been rarely tested. We investigated the prospective association between SPA and PS before and during COVID-19, as well as the moderation of boredom. A total of 197 college students participated in four-wave surveys from December 2018 to June 2020 in China. The cross-lagged model was developed to investigate the prospective association between SPA and PS from T1 to T4. Boredom was added to the model at T4 as a moderator to explore the moderating role of boredom during COVID-19. The results showed that the pandemic changed PS’s prediction on SPA. During COVID-19, boredom significantly affected SPA and PS and moderated the link from PS at T3 to PS at T4. The results suggest that the prospective associations between SPA and PS varied before and during COVID-19. Prevention of SPA should be conducted for new students and should be used to enhance their stress coping capacity. Intervention programs for eliminating boredom may be effective for reducing stress and SPA during COVID-19. Full article
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13 pages, 838 KiB  
Article
Perceived Information Distortion about COVID-19 Vaccination and Addictive Social Media Use among Social Media Users in Hong Kong: The Moderating Roles of Functional Literacy and Critical Literacy
by Luyao Xie, Edmund W. J. Lee, Vivian W. I. Fong, Kam-Hei Hui, Meiqi Xin and Phoenix K. H. Mo
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(14), 8550; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148550 - 13 Jul 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3004
Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, distorted information about the COVID-19 vaccination is widely disseminated through social media. The present study examined the association between perceived information distortion about COVID-19 vaccination on social media, individuals’ functional and critical literacy, and addictive social media use (SMU), [...] Read more.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, distorted information about the COVID-19 vaccination is widely disseminated through social media. The present study examined the association between perceived information distortion about COVID-19 vaccination on social media, individuals’ functional and critical literacy, and addictive social media use (SMU), as well as the moderating roles of functional and critical literacy in the association between perceived information distortion and addictive SMU among social media users in Hong Kong. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 411 Chinese citizens from June to August 2021. Findings showed that after adjusting for significant background variables, including age, gender, marital status, education, occupation, and income, functional literacy was negatively associated with addictive SMU. In addition, significant moderation effects of functional literacy and critical literacy were also observed, such that a positive association between perceived information distortion on social media and addictive SMU was significant among participants with lower functional literacy or higher critical literacy. Findings highlight the importance of improving functional literacy in addictive SMU prevention for social media users. Special attention should also be paid to the potential influence of critical literacy on addictive SMUs. Full article
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13 pages, 601 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Pandemic-Related Life Stress on Internet Gaming: Social Cynicism and Gaming Motivation as Serial Mediators
by Elsie Yan, Rong-Wei Sun, Anise M. S. Wu, Daniel W. L. Lai and Vincent W. P. Lee
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(14), 8332; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19148332 - 7 Jul 2022
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2269
Abstract
A heightened interest in online gaming has emerged during COVID-19, and people have become increasingly vulnerable to internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, playing video games can also have a positive effect; gaming has been recognized as an efficient coping strategy. Currently, relatively little [...] Read more.
A heightened interest in online gaming has emerged during COVID-19, and people have become increasingly vulnerable to internet gaming disorder (IGD). However, playing video games can also have a positive effect; gaming has been recognized as an efficient coping strategy. Currently, relatively little is understood about how online gaming can turn from an efficient coping strategy into an addiction disorder. This study investigated the mediating roles of social cynicism, escape and coping motives on the association between daily disruption during COVID-19 and IGD, seeking to reveal the underlying mechanism that influences the effects of gaming. A total of 203 participants in Hong Kong who reported having played electronic games during COVID-19 were surveyed. We conducted three hierarchical multiple regressions, then tested a serial mediation model using path analysis with structural equation modeling. The results revealed that escape motives significantly mediated the relationship between daily disruption related to COVID-19 and IGD, but no such effect was found for coping motives. Social cynicism alone was not a significant mediator, but social cynicism and escape motives in series mediated the relationship between daily disruption and IGD. These difference outcomes suggested different underlying mechanisms of escape and coping motives. Full article
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19 pages, 837 KiB  
Article
Parental Depression and Leisure Activity Engagement on Children’s Gaming Disorder: A Dyadic Study
by Yee-Tik Lam and Cecilia Cheng
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(10), 5880; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19105880 - 12 May 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2272
Abstract
Nowadays, playing both online and offline video games is a popular leisure activity among youngsters, but excessive gaming activity engagement may lead to gaming disorder that disrupts daily functioning. Identifying risk and protective factors of this emerging problem is thus essential for devising [...] Read more.
Nowadays, playing both online and offline video games is a popular leisure activity among youngsters, but excessive gaming activity engagement may lead to gaming disorder that disrupts daily functioning. Identifying risk and protective factors of this emerging problem is thus essential for devising prevention and intervention strategies. This mixed-method, cross-sectional study aimed to examine the roles of parental depressive symptoms and children’s leisure activity engagement on children’s gaming disorder symptoms. Furthermore, the moderating roles of risky and protective leisure activity engagement were investigated. The sample comprised 104 parent-child dyads recruited from a population-based survey (parents: Mage = 45.59 years, SD = 6.70; children: Mage = 11.26 years; SD = 4.12). As predicted, parental depressive symptoms and children’s gaming activity engagement were positively associated with children’s gaming disorder symptoms, whereas children’s literacy activity engagement was negatively associated with these symptoms. Moreover, engagement in these two types of leisure activity moderated the association between parental depressive symptoms and children’s gaming disorder symptoms in distinct manners, further indicating literacy activities as beneficial and gaming activities as risk-enhancing. These new findings imply that parental depressive symptoms and children’s leisure activity engagement should be considered when designing parent-based programs for gaming disorder prevention and intervention. Full article
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14 pages, 1133 KiB  
Article
Social Media Addiction during COVID-19-Mandated Physical Distancing: Relatedness Needs as Motives
by Cecilia Cheng and Yan-Ching Lau
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(8), 4621; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084621 - 12 Apr 2022
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 4819
Abstract
In the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, national lockdowns and stay-at-home orders were implemented by many countries to curb the rate of infection. An extended stay-at-home period can frustrate people’s need for relatedness, with many turning to social media [...] Read more.
In the early stages of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, national lockdowns and stay-at-home orders were implemented by many countries to curb the rate of infection. An extended stay-at-home period can frustrate people’s need for relatedness, with many turning to social media to interact with others in the outside world. However, social media use may be maladaptive due to its associations with social media addiction and psychosocial problems. Our study was set at this special context to examine the associations among social media addiction, two aspects of relatedness needs (i.e., satisfaction and frustration), and two prominent psychosocial problems (i.e., depressive symptoms and loneliness). The participants were 1048 residents of the U.K. or U.S. (46% men, mean age = 44.10 years, SD = 12.59, age range: 18–65). The results indicated significant positive associations between relatedness need frustration and social media addiction as well as significant positive associations between social media addiction and the two types of psychosocial problems. More importantly, both of these significant associations were strong enough to partially explain the significant positive associations between relatedness need frustration and the two types of psychosocial problems. These findings provided some support for relatedness need frustration as a motivation of social media addiction. Full article
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8 pages, 521 KiB  
Article
Perceptions of School Climate and Internet Gaming Addiction among Chinese Adolescents: The Mediating Effect of Deviant Peer Affiliation
by Hongyu Zou, Yuting Deng, Huahua Wang, Chengfu Yu and Wei Zhang
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(6), 3604; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19063604 - 18 Mar 2022
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3294
Abstract
Adolescent internet gaming addiction (IGA) has become a serve public health problem, particularly in China. Despite the fact that the school climate has a significant impact on teenage IGA, little research has looked into the underlying mediating processes. This cross-sectional study looked at [...] Read more.
Adolescent internet gaming addiction (IGA) has become a serve public health problem, particularly in China. Despite the fact that the school climate has a significant impact on teenage IGA, little research has looked into the underlying mediating processes. This cross-sectional study looked at the impact of adolescents’ perceptions of their school climate (including teacher–student support, student–student support, and opportunities for autonomy) on IGA in a sample of 1053 Chinese adolescents (Meanage = 13.52 years; 52.4% females) using convenient sampling methodology, as well as whether deviant peer affiliation mediated this association. Adolescents’ school climate, IGA, and deviant peer affiliation were examined using the School Climate Questionnaire, Internet Gaming Addiction Scale, and two validated tools in this study. The results showed that teacher–student support and student–student support were both negatively associated with IGA, and that these correlations were mediated by deviant peer affiliation. The implications of these findings are discussed. Full article
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14 pages, 574 KiB  
Article
Effects of Psychological Distress and Coping Resources on Internet Gaming Disorder: Comparison between Chinese and Japanese University Students
by Anise M. S. Wu, Mark H. C. Lai, Mengxuan Zhang, Masao Yogo, Shu M. Yu, Sijie Mao and Juliet Honglei Chen
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(5), 2951; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19052951 - 3 Mar 2022
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3928
Abstract
The high prevalence of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) among Asian youth indicates an urgent need to identify protective factors and examine their consistency across Asian cultures in order to facilitate cost-effective interventions. Based on the transactional theory of stress and coping, this study [...] Read more.
The high prevalence of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) among Asian youth indicates an urgent need to identify protective factors and examine their consistency across Asian cultures in order to facilitate cost-effective interventions. Based on the transactional theory of stress and coping, this study collected data of 1243 online gamers (45% males; 18–25 years) through an anonymous survey from universities in China and Japan and investigated whether three coping resources (i.e., mindfulness, coping flexibility, and social support) serve to protect Chinese and Japanese youth from the impact of psychological distress on IGD tendency. After adjusting for the measurement non-invariance across samples, we found that Japanese students reported higher levels of IGD tendency and psychological distress than Chinese students. The results of multiple-group SEM analyses showed that, after controlling for other predictors, mindfulness served as the strongest protective factor against IGD across samples. Moreover, the buffering effect of mindfulness on the association between psychological distress and IGD tendency of female (but not male) students was observed. Our findings highlighted the cross-cultural invariance of the impact of psychological distress and coping resources on IGD in Chinese and Japanese youth, which can be considered in future IGD prevention programs. Full article
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12 pages, 789 KiB  
Article
Internet Addiction: The Role of Parental Care and Mental Health in Adolescence
by Carmen Trumello, Laura Vismara, Cristina Sechi, Piera Ricciardi, Valentina Marino and Alessandra Babore
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(24), 12876; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182412876 - 7 Dec 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 6514
Abstract
Internet addiction in adolescence is a social issue which is being increasingly discussed worldwide. Hence, deepening the knowledge of its development is necessary to prevent short- and long-term negative outcomes. This study involving 266 adolescents (mean age = 16.1 years, SD = 1.4) [...] Read more.
Internet addiction in adolescence is a social issue which is being increasingly discussed worldwide. Hence, deepening the knowledge of its development is necessary to prevent short- and long-term negative outcomes. This study involving 266 adolescents (mean age = 16.1 years, SD = 1.4) aimed at analyzing the relationship between quality of parental care, Internet addiction and adolescents’ mental health, by means of the following self-report tools: the Parental Bonding Instrument, the Internet Addiction Test, and the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The findings, collected through structural equation model analyses, showed that perceived care from both father and mother had significant indirect effects on Internet addiction problems through adolescents’ mental health problems. Furthermore, Internet addiction problems were demonstrated to be negatively associated with maternal care but not with paternal care. The study provides empirical support to the need of family-based prevention and intervention programs to take care of Internet addiction. Full article
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8 pages, 472 KiB  
Article
The Impact of Social Network Site Addiction on Depression in Chinese Medical Students: A Serial Multiple Mediator Model Involving Loneliness and Unmet Interpersonal Needs
by Ruijie Gong, Yinghuan Zhang, Rusi Long, Rui Zhu, Sicong Li, Xinyi Liu, Suping Wang and Yong Cai
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(16), 8614; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18168614 - 15 Aug 2021
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 3526
Abstract
The use of social network sites (SNSs) is inevitable in daily life. Everyone is likely to be addicted to SNSs, especially medical students. This study is aimed to assess the degree of SNS addiction and its relation to psychosocial factors such as depression, [...] Read more.
The use of social network sites (SNSs) is inevitable in daily life. Everyone is likely to be addicted to SNSs, especially medical students. This study is aimed to assess the degree of SNS addiction and its relation to psychosocial factors such as depression, loneliness and unmet interpersonal needs among Chinese medical students. The cross-section survey was conducted from March to May in 2018 in Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Of the total 1067 participants, 33.18% had an SNS addiction, 87.7% of the participants used SNSs every day during last month and 53.42% of the participants used SNSs for at least an hour per day during the last week. SNS addiction is positively related with depression both directly and indirectly. The mediating roles of loneliness and unmet interpersonal needs on the relationship between SNS addiction and depression are significant. For the well-being of medical students, efforts should be taken to prevent them from becoming addicted to SNSs. Full article
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8 pages, 330 KiB  
Article
Roles of Hostility and Depression in the Association between the MAOA Gene Polymorphism and Internet Gaming Disorder
by Ju-Yu Yen, Wei-Po Chou, Huang-Chi Lin, Hung-Chi Wu, Wen-Xiang Tsai and Chih-Hung Ko
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(13), 6910; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18136910 - 27 Jun 2021
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 3116
Abstract
The metabolism of bioamine in the central nervous system contributes to the development of addiction. We examined the roles of hostility and depression in the association between internet gaming disorder (IGD) and monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA) EcoRV polymorphism (rs1137070). A total of 69 adults [...] Read more.
The metabolism of bioamine in the central nervous system contributes to the development of addiction. We examined the roles of hostility and depression in the association between internet gaming disorder (IGD) and monoamine oxidase-A (MAOA) EcoRV polymorphism (rs1137070). A total of 69 adults with IGD and 138 without IGD were recruited through diagnostic interviewing. We evaluated participants for rs1137070, depression, and hostility. The participants with the TT genotype of rs1137070 had a higher odds ratio of 2.52 (1.37–4.64) for IGD compared with the C carriers. Expressive hostility behavior and hostility cognition mediated the association between rs1137070 and IGD. Indicating lower MAOA activity, the TT genotype predicted IGD and higher expressive hostility behavior and hostility cognition. Expressive hostility behavior and hostility cognition may underline the association between rs1137070 and IGD. Assessment of and intervention for hostility behavior and cognition should be provided to attenuate the risk of IGD, particularly in those with the TT genotype. Further brain imaging or neurobiological studies are required to elucidate the possible mechanism underlying the association between MAOA activity and IGD. Full article
11 pages, 332 KiB  
Article
Problematic Smartphone Use during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Association with Pandemic-Related and Generalized Beliefs
by Meng Xuan Zhang, Juliet Honglei Chen, Kwok Kit Tong, Eilo Wing-yat Yu and Anise M. S. Wu
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2021, 18(11), 5724; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18115724 - 26 May 2021
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 4078
Abstract
Smartphone technologies have played a crucial role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the increased use of smartphones during the pandemic period may expose the general public to a higher risk of problematic smartphone use (PSU). This study aimed to estimate [...] Read more.
Smartphone technologies have played a crucial role in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the increased use of smartphones during the pandemic period may expose the general public to a higher risk of problematic smartphone use (PSU). This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of PSU among Chinese community adults and adopted a social-cognitive theory and social axiom framework to evaluate the effects of beliefs on PSU. A Chinese adult sample (N = 616) was obtained through probability sampling via a telephone survey from Macao, China and included 591 smartphone users’ data (39.4% men) for formal analysis. The prevalence of PSU was 43.3% in the overall sample, with 41.9% in women, and 45.5% in men. Two types of beliefs derived from the social-cognitive theory, pandemic-related self-efficacy and government efficacy, both showed significant and negative correlations with PSU (r = −0.13 and −0.10, p < 0.05). As for the two beliefs from the social axiom framework, reward for application was negatively correlated with PSU (r = −0.10, p < 0.05), whereas social cynicism was positively associated with PSU (r = 0.25, p < 0.001). Among those four beliefs, social cynicism exerted the most substantial effect on PSU when controlling for demographics. Our findings enriched the understanding of PSU during the pandemic and provided empirical direction regarding cognition-based intervention strategies for reducing PSU. Full article

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14 pages, 700 KiB  
Systematic Review
Prevalence and Factors Associated with Gaming Disorder in Latin America and the Caribbean: A Systematic Review
by Akram Hernández-Vásquez, Rodrigo Vargas-Fernández, Fabriccio J. Visconti-Lopez, Daniel Comandé and Guido Bendezu-Quispe
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19(16), 10036; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191610036 - 15 Aug 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2531
Abstract
We aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with gaming disorder (GD) in the population of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). A systematic review was performed (PROSPERO protocol registration: CRD42021230565). We included studies that identified participants with GD and/or factors associated [...] Read more.
We aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with gaming disorder (GD) in the population of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). A systematic review was performed (PROSPERO protocol registration: CRD42021230565). We included studies that identified participants with GD and/or factors associated with this condition, reported the prevalence of GD, or contained data that assisted in its estimation, were published after 2013 (the year of inclusion of GD in the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) and were carried out in a population residing in an LAC country. Evaluation of the quality of the studies was carried out using the Joanna Briggs Institute Critical appraisal checklist tool. A qualitative synthesis of the data was performed. Of the total of 1567 records identified, 25 passed the full-text review phase, and 6 met the selection criteria. These studies were published between 2018 and 2021 and had a cross-sectional design (three in Brazil, one in Ecuador, Mexico, and the other was multi-country, including a LAC country [Peru]). The prevalence of GD ranged from 1.1% to 38.2%. The three studies in Brazil had the highest figures of GD prevalence (20.4–38.2%). Four studies evaluated factors associated with GD. Characteristics regarding the game (type), pattern of use (hours played), as well as gender (higher in men), tobacco and alcohol consumption, poor interpersonal relationships, and the presence of mental disorders were found to be associated with GD in LAC. Evidence on the prevalence and factors associated with GD in LAC is limited. Studies on GD in LAC evaluate different population subgroups, describing a wide prevalence of this condition (present in up to 38 out of 100 evaluated). Characteristics such as the type and hours of use of the games, sociodemographic data, lifestyles, interpersonal relationships, and the presence of mental disorders increase the probability of presenting GD. Full article
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