Although the majority of research focuses on the risks and disadvantages of online gaming, the present authors suggest that online games also represent new ways of satisfying basic human needs within the conditions of modern society. The aim of our present study was to reveal and operationalize the components of the motivational basis of online gaming. A total 3,818 persons (90.6% males; mean age 20.9 years, SD = 5.81) were recruited through websites providing online games. A combined method of exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis was applied. The results confirmed our preliminary model as we identified seven motivational factors (social, escape, competition, coping, skill development, fantasy, and recreation), which were used to develop the 27-item Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ). The seven dimensions identified seem to cover the full range of possible motives for gaming, and the MOGQ proved to be an adequate measurement tool to assess these motives.

Introduction: The inclusion of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) in the DSM-5 (Section 3) has given rise to much scholarly debate regarding the proposed criteria and their operationalization.The present study's aim was threefold: to (i) develop and validate a brief psychometric instrument (Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test; IGDT-10) to assess IGD using definitions suggested in DSM-5, (ii) contribute to ongoing debate regards the usefulness and validity of each of the nine IGD criteria (using Item Response Theory [IRT]), and (iii) investigate the cut-off threshold suggested in the DSM-5.Methods: An online gamer sample of 4,887 gamers (age range 14-64 years, mean age 22.2 years [SD=6.4], 92.5% male) was collected through Facebook and a gaming-related website with the cooperation of a popular Hungarian gaming magazine. A shopping voucher of approx. 300 Euros was drawn between participants to boost participation (i.e., lottery incentive). Confirmatory factor analysis and a structural regression model were used to test the psychometric properties of the IGDT-10 and IRT analysis was conducted to test the measurement performance of the nine IGD criteria. Finally, latent class analysis along with sensitivity and specificity analysis were used to investigate the cut-off threshold proposed in the DSM-5.Results: Analysis supported IGDT-10's validity, reliability, and suitability to be used in future research. Findings of the IRT analysis suggest IGD is manifested through a different set of symptoms depending on the level of severity of the disorder. More specifically, "continuation", "preoccupation", "negative consequences" and "escape" were associated with lower severity of IGD, while "tolerance", "loss of control", "giving up other activities" and "deception" criteria were associated with more severe levels. "Preoccupation" and "escape" provided very little information to the estimation IGD severity. Finally, the DSM-5 suggested threshold appeared to be supported by our statistical analyses.Conclusions: IGDT-10 is a valid and reliably instrument to assess IGD as proposed in the DSM-5. Apparently the nine criteria do not explain IGD in the same way, suggesting that additional 2 studies are needed to assess the characteristics and intricacies of each criterion and how they account to explain IGD.

Regular physical activity plays a crucial role in health maintenance and disease prevention. However, excessive exercise has the potential to have adverse effects on both physical and mental health. The scholastic and empirical discussion of excessive physical activity focuses on obsessive and compulsive exercising, and uses several labels. However, in this review, we argue that the most appropriate term for this phenomenon is exercise addiction, emphasizing that excessive physical exercise fits the typical and most common characteristics of behavioral addictions. The aim of this review is to synthesize the current knowledge on symptomology, diagnosis, epidemiology, and etiology of exercise addiction.

There is an ongoing debate in the literature whether problematic Internet use (PIU) and problematic online gaming (POG) are two distinct conceptual and nosological entities or whether they are the same. The present study contributes to this question by examining the interrelationship and the overlap between PIU and POG in terms of sex, school achievement, time spent using the Internet and/or online gaming, psychological well-being, and preferred online activities. Questionnaires assessing these variables were administered to a nationally representative sample of adolescent gamers (N = 2,073; M age = 16.4 years, SD = 0.87; 68.4% male). Data showed that Internet use was a common activity among adolescents, while online gaming was engaged in by a considerably smaller group. Similarly, more adolescents met the criteria for PIU than for POG, and a small group of adolescents showed symptoms of both problem behaviors. The most notable difference between the two problem behaviors was in terms of sex. POG was much more strongly associated with being male. Self-esteem had low effect sizes on both behaviors, while depressive symptoms were associated with both PIU and POG, affecting PIU slightly more. In terms of preferred online activities, PIU was positively associated with online gaming, online chatting, and social networking, while POG was only associated with online gaming. Based on our findings, POG appears to be a conceptually different behavior from PIU, and therefore the data support the notion that Internet Addiction Disorder and Internet Gaming Disorder are separate nosological entities.

BackgroundThe rapid expansion of online video gaming as a leisure time activity has led to the appearance of problematic online gaming (POG). According to the literature, POG is associated with different psychiatric symptoms (eg, depression, anxiety) and with specific gaming motives (ie, escape, achievement). Based on studies of alcohol use that suggest a mediator role of drinking motives between distal influences (eg, trauma symptoms) and drinking problems, this study examined the assumption that there is an indirect link between psychiatric distress and POG via the mediation of gaming motives. Furthermore, it was also assumed that there was a moderator effect of gender and game type preference based on the important role gender plays in POG and the structural differences between different game types.ObjectiveThis study had two aims. The first aim was to test the mediating role of online gaming motives between psychiatric symptoms and problematic use of online games. The second aim was to test the moderator effect of gender and game type preference in this mediation model.MethodsAn online survey was conducted on a sample of online gamers (N=3186; age: mean 21.1, SD 5.9 years; male: 2859/3186, 89.74%). The Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire (MOGQ), and the Problematic Online Gaming Questionnaire (POGQ) were administered to assess general psychiatric distress, online gaming motives, and problematic online game use, respectively. Structural regression analyses within structural equation modeling were used to test the proposed mediation models and multigroup analyses were used to test gender and game type differences to determine possible moderating effects.ResultsThe mediation models fitted the data adequately. The Global Severity Index (GSI) of the BSI indicated that the level of psychiatric distress had a significant positive direct effect (standardized effect=.35, P<.001) and a significant indirect (mediating) effect on POG (standardized effect=.194, P<.001) via 2 gaming motives: escape (standardized effect=.139, P<.001) and competition (standardized effect=.046, P<.001). The comparison of the 2 main gamer types showed no significant differences in the model. However, when comparing male and female players it was found that women had (1) slightly higher escape scores (on a 5-point Likert scale: mean 2.28, SD 1.14) than men (mean 1.87, SD 0.97) and (2) a stronger association between the escape motive and problematic online gaming (standardized effect size=.64, P<.001) than men (standardized effect size=.20, P=.001).ConclusionsThe results suggest that psychiatric distress is both directly and indirectly (via escape and competition motives) negatively associated with POG. Therefore, the exploration of psychiatric symptoms and gaming motives of POG can be helpful in the preparation of prevention and treatment programs.