Is Internet addiction a psychopathological condition distinct from pathological gambling?

Differences between specific and generalized problematic Internet uses according to gender, age, time spent online and psychopathological symptoms

“…In our sample, participants in the SPIU gaming group almost spent as many hours online as participants in the GPIU group, and spent more time online than those with other SPIU groups. Even if the heterogeneity of Internet users has been pointed out, in terms of controlling behaviors or psychopathological symptoms (Griffiths, 2013;Tonioni et al, 2014), among women and young adults, time spent online seems to be highly related to PIU. Despite the fact that its predictive value has been criticized, time spent online should be controlled among problematic users, like it is already the case in some online gaming (i.e., desktop alert every two hours of gaming).…”

“…Indeed, some behaviors could present a particularly addictive potential, such as online problematic behaviors related to sex, gaming, gambling (Guertler et al, 2014) or social networking (Kuss & Griffiths, 2011), and could foster the development of a PIU or a Generalized Problematic Internet Use (GPIU) (Adièle & Olatokun, 2014;Kuss, Griffiths, Karila, & Billieux, 2014;Wallace & Masiak, 2011). However, while a growing number of authors suggests to differentiate GPIU from each SPIU (Carli et al, 2011;Durkee et al, 2012;Griffiths, 2013;Kuss, van Rooij, Shorter, Griffiths, & van de Mheen, 2013;Montag et al, 2014;Pawlikowski, Nader, et al, 2012;Rehbein & Möble, 2013;Tonioni et al, 2014), some SPIU have rarely been evaluated (e.g., related to online problematic working, information seeking or watching and downloading video or music).…”

Clinical psychology of Internet addiction: a review of its conceptualization, prevalence, neuronal processes, and implications for treatment

“…Notwithstanding the existing difficulties in understanding and comparing IA and pathological gambling, recent research provided useful insights on this topic. A recent study by Tonioni et al 28 involving two clinical groups (ie, 31 IA patients and eleven pathological gamblers) and a control group (ie, 38 healthy individuals) that aimed to investigate whether IA patients presented different psychological symptoms, temperamental traits, coping strategies, and relational patterns in comparison with pathological gamblers, concluded that Internet addicts presented higher mental and behavioral disengagement associated with significant more interpersonal impairment. Moreover, temperamental patterns, coping strategies, and social impairments appeared to be different across both disorders.…”

Theoretical Models of the Development and Maintenance of Internet Addiction

“…Stress vulnerability and experienced stress in daily life, and the subsequent use of the Internet as a tool for coping with problematic or stressful life events, have also been considered important factors contributing to the development of Internet addiction (Whang et al 2003;Tang et al 2014). Tendencies towards impulsive coping strategies (e.g., doing the first thing that comes to the mind when facing negative mood) when confronted with daily stress have also been linked to Internet addiction (Tonioni et al 2014), and some authors even conceptualize Internet addiction as a type of dysfunctional coping with everyday life (Kardefelt-Winther 2014). It has been suggested that the specific types of Internet addiction share some main psychopathological and personality correlates (Brand et al 2014b(Brand et al , 2016b.…”