Behavioural Addictions in Adolescents and Young Adults: Results from a Prevalence Study

Abstract

Our study aims to assess the prevalence of behavioural addictions in an adolescent population, evaluating the effects of gender and age, and to assess the correlations among different behavioural addictions. 2853 high school students were assessed in order to evaluate the prevalence of behavioural addictions such as Pathological Gambling (PG), Compulsive Buying (CB), Exercise Addiction (EA), Internet Addiction (IA), and Work Addiction (WA), in a population of Italian adolescents. The South Oaks Gambling Screen-Revised Adolescent (SOGS-RA), the Compulsive Buying Scale (CBS), the Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI), the Internet Addiction Test (IAT), and the Work Addiction Risk Test (WART), were compiled anonymously by the students. Overall prevalence was 7.0% for PG, 11.3% for CB, 1.2% for IA, 7.6% for WA, 8.5% for EA. PG and EA were more common among boys, while gender had no effect on the other conditions. CB was more common among younger (<18 years old) students. The scores of all of these scales were significantly correlated. The strong correlation among different addictive behaviours is in line with the hypothesis of a common psychopathological dimension underlying these phenomena. Further studies are needed to assess personality traits and other clinical disorders associated with these problems behaviours.

The relationships between behavioral addictions and the five-factor model of personality

“…This suggests that behavioral addictions have one or several common underlying psychopathology dimensions (Villella et al, 2011), a finding that seems to go against the substitution hypothesis (Lin & Lin, 1982). Facebook addiction, Internet addiction, and mobile phone addiction all correlated highly with each other (> .50), and are suggestive of an underlying preference for online communication (Smahel, Brown & Blinka, 2012).…”

“…Very few studies have investigated several behavioral addictions simultaneously in the same study. Villella et al (2011) investigated the prevalence and the interrelationships between five behavioral addictions (pathological gambling, compulsive buying, Internet addiction, workaholism, and exercise addiction), whereas Lejoyeux, Avril, Richoux, Embouazza and Nivoli (2008) used a similar approach when studying exercise dependence, compulsive buying, and Internet addiction. However, as far as the authors are aware, no study has ever simultaneously investigated the interrelationships between several behavioral addictions, and related these to the main dimensions of the five-factor model of personality.…”

Measuring compulsive buying behaviour: Psychometric validity of three different scales and prevalence in the general population and in shopping centres

“…The lifetime prevalence rates of compulsive buying in representative studies are estimated to be between 1% (former East Germany) and 11.3% (Brazil) (Faber and O'Guinn, 1992;Koran et al, 2006;Mueller et al, 2010a;Neuner et al, 2005;Villella et al, 2011). The reported prevalence rates show wide variation despite the fact that most of the above studies have used the same instrument for screening CBB (i.e., Compulsive Buying Scale [Faber and O'Guinn, 1989]).…”

Cue reactivity towards shopping cues in female participants

“…Models of aetiology and pathogenesis of pathological buying emphasize dysfunctional affective (avoidance of negative emotions, pleasure seeking, and craving) and cognitive processes (impulsivity, loss of self-control, dysfunctional decision making) (Kyrios, Frost & Steketee, 2004) as relevant for the development and maintenance of pathological buying. Epidemiological studies estimate a prevalence between 5.8 percent (Koran, Faber, Aboujaoude, Large & Serpe, 2006) to 11.3 percent in a student population (Villella et al, 2011). Consequences for the individual include severe distress, feelings of guilt and remorse, suicide attempts, familiar and occupational conflicts, excessive debt, bankruptcy, and engaging in illegal activities in order to provide money or shopping goods (e.g., Christenson et al, 1994;O'Guinn & Faber, 1989).…”