Research into Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) literature largely uses cross-sectional designs and seldom examines gaming context-related factors. Therefore, the present study combined a cross-sectional and longitudinal design to examine depression and the gamer-avatar relationship (GAR) as risk factors in the development of IGD among emerging adults. IGD behaviors of 125 gamers (64 online gamers, Mage = 23.3 years, SD= 3.4; 61 offline gamers, Mage = 23.0 years, SD= 3.4) were assessed using the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale Short Form (IGDS-SF9; Pontes & Griffiths, 2015). The Self-Presence Scale (Ratan & Dawson, 2015) and the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996) were also used to assess gamers' levels of GAR and depressive symptoms respectively. Regression and moderation analyses revealed that depression and the GAR act as individual risk factors in the development of IGD over time. Furthermore, the GAR exacerbates the IGD risk effect of depression.Keywords: Internet Gaming Disorder; Video gaming; Gamer-avatar relationship; Online addiction; Depression 3 IntroductionThe expansion of online gaming has led to excessive and potentially problematic gaming among a small minority of individuals (Pontes & Griffiths, 2014). The first commercial video games made their debut in the US in the 1970s, and by the early 1980s reports of video gaming addiction began to appear in academic literature (Kowert & Quandt, 2015). In the 2000s there was a substantial growth in video game playing, video game addiction, and associated research (Griffiths, 2015). As the medium has developed, it has enabled an online environment where gamers can gather virtually and create global online communities (Griffiths, 2015). Consequently, there has been a significant growth over the last decade of research examining both online video gaming and video game addiction (Griffiths, van Rooij et al., 2016; Petry et al., 2014; Petry et al., 2014).Various terms have been employed to define excessive online video gameplay such as 'problem video game playing', 'video game addiction', 'internet gaming addiction', 'pathological video game use', 'problem video game play', 'online gaming addiction', 'video game dependency', 'pathological gaming', and 'problematic online gaming ' (Pontes & Griffiths, 2014). The wide variety of names, definitions, and diagnostic instruments applied to problematic video gaming has resulted in inconsistencies among researchers considering the prevalence of the behavior (King, Haagsma, Delfabbro, Gradisar, & Griffiths, 2013; Kuss & Griffiths, 2012a; Petry et al., 2014). In May 2013, the American Psychiatric Association (APA, 2013) introduced the classification of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD; i.e., the problematic use of online video games) as a condition worthy of further study in the latest (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).Literature reviews have identified a diagnostic overlap between studies that had previously investigated problem...

Understanding risk and protective factors associated with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been highlighted as a research priority by the American Psychiatric Association, (2013). The present study focused on the potential IGD risk effect of anxiety and the buffering role of family cohesion on this association. A sample of emerging adults all of whom were massively multiplayer online (MMO) gamers (18-29 years) residing in Australia were assessed longitudinally (face-to-face: N = 61, M age = 23.02 years, SD = 3.43) and crosssectionally (online: N = 64, M age = 23.34 years, SD = 3

Understanding both the risk and protective factors associated with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been viewed by many in the gaming studies field as an area of research priority. The present study focused on the potential risk and protective effects of user-avatar (game figure) relationship and physical activity (PA) respectively. To address these aims, a cross-sectional and a longitudinal mixed-methods design were combined (comprising both psychological and physiological assessments). A sample of 121 emerging adult gamers (18-29 years) residing in Australia, who played massively multiplayer online games, were assessed in relation to their IGD behaviors using the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short Form. Additionally, the Proto-Self-Presence scale was used to evaluate the extent to which gamers identified with the body of their avatar.Finally, a PA monitor (Fit-Bit Flex) measured levels of energy consumed during real world daily activities (active minutes). A number of linear regressions and moderation analyses were conducted. Findings confirmed that Proto-SelfPresence functioned as an IGD risk factor and that PA acted protectively, weakening the association between Proto-Self-Presence and IGD behaviors.Implications of these findings are discussed in relation to IGD treatment and gaming development aspects. Keywords:Internet Gaming Disorder; Proto-Self-Presence; Physical Activity; Emerging Adulthood; Massively Multiplayer Online games. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 Internet Gaming Disorder 3 IntroductionInternet use has grown exponentially, constituting an inherent part of contemporary life (Anderson, Steen & Stavropoulos, 2016). In that context, the userinternet interplay (within the broader human computer interaction filed) has attracted the attention of researchers from a diverse range of scientific disciplines including psychology, information technology, computer science, and sociology (Lazar, Feng, & Hochheiser, 2017). One particularly popular and continuously expanding online application/activity that has gravitated research focus is Internet gaming (Andreassen et al., 2016). More specifically, the potentially positive (e.g., mental health improvements, cultural openness, a sense of meaning and accomplishment, collaboration and emotive stimulation; Smahel, Blinka, & Brown, 2012; Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010; Armitage, Claypool, & Branch, 2006; Billieux et al., 2015; Hsu, Wen, & Wu, 2009;Snodgrass, Lacy, Dengah, & Fagan, 2011) and negative effects (e.g., negative impact on identity formation, physical health and interpersonal relationships; Billieux et al., 2015; Hyun et al., 2015; Kuss, 2013; Hsu et al, 2009;Freeman, 2008) of Internet gaming, depending on the intensity of gaming involvement, have been demonstrated (Anderson et al., 2016). Additionally, the significance of the g...

Background and aimsThe risk effect of anxiety on addictive behaviors, including Internet addiction (IA), has repeatedly been highlighted in the international literature. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies examining this association in relation to proximal context effects, particularly in adolescence. Such findings would shed light on potential age- and proximal context-related variations in the anxiety–IA association that could better inform IA prevention and intervention initiatives.MethodsIn this study, 648 adolescents, embedded in 34 classrooms, were assessed at the age of 16 and again at the age of 18 to examine the effect of anxiety on IA behaviors in relation to the average level of classroom extraversion. IA was assessed with the Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998), anxiety with the relevant subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90 – Revised (Derogatis & Savitz, 1999) and classroom extraversion with the synonymous subscale of the Five Factor Questionnaire (Asendorpf & van Aken, 2003). A three-level hierarchical linear model was calculated.ResultsThe present findings demonstrated that: (a) higher levels of anxiety were significantly associated with higher IA behaviors, (b) the strength of this association did not vary over time (between 16 and 18 years old), and (c) however, it tended to weaken within classrooms higher in extraversion.DiscussionThis study indicated that the contribution of individual IA risk factors might differently unfold within different contexts.