Do Individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder Share Personality Traits with Substance-Dependent Individuals?

Abstract

(1) Background: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) shares many similarities with substance use disorder (SUD), contributing to its recognition as an addictive disorder. Nevertheless, no study has compared IGD to other addictive disorders in terms of personality traits established as highly co-occurring with SUDs. (2) Methods: We recruited a sample of gamers (massively multiplayer online role-playing games) (MMORPGs) via online in-game forums. We compared 83 individuals with IGD (MMORPG-IGD group) to 47 former heroin addicts under methadone maintenance treatment (MMT; MMT group) with regard to alexithymia, impulsivity, sensation seeking and aggressiveness assessed through self-administered scales, being TAS-20, BIS-10, Z-SSS and BDHI, respectively. (3) Results: Our results draw a relatively similar personality profile between groups but indicate that the subject traits are generally more pronounced in the MMT cohort. The overall lesser intensity of these traits in the MMORPG-IGD group might reflect the greater variability in the severity of the IGD. (4) Conclusions: IGD shares personality traits with MMT, and intensity may be influenced by the severity of the addiction or by certain direct environmental factors, and might also influence the propensity towards one behavior rather than another.

Factors contributing to online game addiction in adolescents: a systematic review

“…Playing online or offline games does not discriminate by gender. This is consistent with research that explains that both males and females have equal opportunities to play games, although males have more experience and gaming skills than female adolescents [11], [20] and the tendency to play games is not only done by male adolescents but also female adolescents, although some studies state that the incidence of game addiction is more commonly experienced by male adolescents [12], [21], [22].…”

From everyday life to measurable problematic smartphone use: The development and validation of the Smartphone Use Problems Identification Questionnaire (SUPIQ)

“…This approach enables a more comprehensive and objective selection of the best fitting model with diverse model fit indices: the root-mean-square-error of approximation (RMSEA), the standardized root mean square residual (SRMR), the comparative fit index (CFI), and the Tucker-Lewis index (TLI). Generally, good model fit is indicated by RMSEA <0.05, SRMR <0.08, and CFI/TLI >0.95, while acceptable fit is indicated by RMSEA <0.08, and CFI/TLI >0.90 (see Brown, 2015;Goulter et al, 2022;Little, 2013). Within the best fitting model, we retained items based on criteria: 1) no cross-factor loadings (i.e., with two factors' loadings >0.30; 2) factor loading >0.50 and <1 (William Jr, 2013); 3) alignment with the SUPIQ's intended factors according to our theoretical framework.…”

Trastorno de Juego por Internet: revisión sistemática de instrumentos iberoamericanos

“…Una parte de estas investigaciones se ha concentrado en una perspectiva vinculada al carácter benigno de los videojuegos, identificando los probables beneficios de su uso en las áreas cognitiva (Brilliant et al, 2019;Huan & Cheng, 2022;Reynaldo et al, 2021), emocional (Cabelkova et al, 2020), motivacional (Granic et al, 2014) y social (Granic et al, 2014;Lobel et al, 2017;Wiederhold, 2021). No obstante, más allá de esta representación positiva, la comunidad científica ha dispuesto su atención en el potencial adictivo de los videojuegos y en sus efectos sobre la salud mental de los usuarios (Chung et al, 2018;Giustiniani et al, 2022;Kim et al, 2008;King & Delfabbro, 2014;Imataka et al, 2022;Turel et al, 2016).…”