Internet Gaming Disorder Among Slovenian Primary Schoolchildren: Findings From a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents

Abstract

Background and aimsSince the inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in the latest (fifth) edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a tentative disorder, a few psychometric screening instruments have been developed to assess IGD, including the 9-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale – Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) – a short, valid, and reliable instrument.MethodsDue to the lack of research on IGD in Slovenia, this study aimed to examine the psychometric properties of the IGDS9-SF in addition to investigating the prevalence rates of IGD in a nationally representative sample of eighth graders from Slovenia (N = 1,071).ResultsThe IGDS9-SF underwent rigorous psychometric scrutiny in terms of validity and reliability. Construct validation was investigated with confirmatory factor analysis to examine the factorial structure of the IGDS9-SF and a unidimensional structure appeared to fit the data well. Concurrent and criterion validation were also investigated by examining the association between IGD and relevant psychosocial and game-related measures, which warranted these forms of validity. In terms of reliability, the Slovenian version IGDS9-SF obtained excellent results regarding its internal consistency at different levels, and the test appears to be a valid and reliable instrument to assess IGD among Slovenian youth. Finally, the prevalence rates of IGD were found to be around 2.5% in the whole sample and 3.1% among gamers.Discussion and conclusionTaken together, these results illustrate the suitability of the IGDS9-SF and warrants further research on IGD in Slovenia.

Validation of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale – Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) in an Italian-speaking sample

“…The IGDS9-SF was developed to be utilized in large-scale surveys. The validity of both versions has been confirmed in the Spanish-, Portuguese-, and Slovenian-speaking samples (Fuster, Carbonell, Pontes, & Griffiths, 2016; Pontes & Griffiths, 2016; Pontes, Macur, & Griffiths, 2016). …”

“…All factor loadings were statistically significant and relatively high, demonstrating that all items were good construct indicators. These results generally corroborated prior validity studies (Fuster et al., 2016; Pontes & Griffiths, 2015, 2016; Pontes et al., 2016). However, the unexpected covariance between the residual errors for Items 6 and 7 was theoretically justifiable as the two items might be referred to the same criterion (i.e., conflict).…”

Psychometric properties of the Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT‐10) and problematic gaming behavior among Finnish vocational school students

“…Among the short instruments used to assess PGB suggested by APA () in the latest edition of DSM, IGDS9‐SF (Pontes & Griffiths, ), is one of the most‐used psychometric scales internationally, providing support concerning its psychometric indicators (i.e., construct, criterion‐related, and concurrent validity) (i.e., Monacis, De Palo, Griffiths & Sinatra, ; Pontes & Griffiths, , ; Pontes, Macur & Griffiths, , Pontes, Macur & Griffiths, ; Wu, Lin, Årestedt, Griffiths, Broström & Pakpour, ). Moreover, the measurement invariance of the IGDS9‐SF (i.e., the factorial structure) has been established cross‐culturally (i.e., across Australia, USA, UK, Albania, and Italy), supporting the configural invariance and in part, the metric and scalar invariance (Palo, Monacis, Sinatra et al ., ; Stavropoulos, Beard, Griffiths, Buleigh, Gomez & Pontes, ).…”

“…According to recent studies, the prevalence of PGB among European gamers is between 1.2% and 5.5% based on the DSM‐5 criteria (e.g., Király et al ., , ; Lemmens et al ., ; Pontes, Macur & Griffiths, ; Rehbein, Kliem, Baier, Mößle & Petry, ). A Finnish study found that the risk of PGB among adolescents is 0.9% (Männikkö, Demetrovics, Ruotsalainen, Myllymäki, Miettunen & Kääriäinen, ).…”

Online Addictions: Conceptualizations, Debates, and Controversies

“…Surveys using nationally representative samples have reported rates of problematic gaming as 8.5% in American youth aged 8-18 years (Gentile, 2009), 1.2% in German adolescents aged 13-18 years (Rehbein, Kliem, Baier, Mößle, & Petry, 2015), 5.5% in Dutch adolescents aged 13-20 years, and 5.4% in Dutch adults (Lemmens, Valkenburg, & Gentile, 2015), 4.3% in Hungarian adolescents aged 15-16 years (Király, Nagygyörgy, Griffiths, & Demetrovics, 2014;Király et al, 2014), 1.4% in Norwegian gamers (Wittek et al, 2016), 1.6% in youth from seven European countries aged 14-17 years (Müller et al, 2015), and 2.5% in Slovenian adolescents aged 12-16 years (Pontes, Macur, & Griffiths, 2016).…”