Prevalence and co-occurrence of addictive behaviors among former alternative high school youth

Abstract

Background and Aims Recent work has studied multiple addictions using a matrix measure, which taps multiple addictions through single responses for each type. Methods The present study investigated use of a matrix measure approach among former alternative high school youth (average age = 19.8 years) at risk for addictions. Lifetime and last 30-day prevalence of one or more of 11 addictions reviewed in other work (Sussman, Lisha & Griffiths, 2011) was the primary focus (i.e., cigarettes, alcohol, other/hard drugs, eating, gambling, Internet, shopping, love, sex, exercise, and work). Also, the co-occurrence of two or more of these 11 addictive behaviors was investigated. Finally, the latent class structure of these addictions, and their associations with other measures, was examined. Results We found that ever and last 30-day prevalence of one or more of these addictions was 79.2% and 61.5%, respectively. Ever and last 30-day co-occurrence of two or more of these addictions was 61.5% and 37.7%, respectively. Latent Class Analysis suggested two groups: a generally Non-addicted Group (67.2% of the sample) and a “Work Hard, Play Hard”-addicted Group that was particularly invested in addiction to love, sex, exercise, the Internet, and work. Supplementary analyses suggested that the single-response type self-reports may be measuring the addictions they intend to measure. Discussion and Conclusions We suggest implications of these results for future studies and the development of prevention and treatment programs, though much more validation research is needed on the use of this type of measure.

Compulsive Internet use and workaholism: An exploratory two-wave longitudinal study

“…In particular, the study tested whether the relationship between these variables was bidirectional (supporting the fusion mechanism) or whether the compulsive Internet use increased the strength of compulsive working (supporting the masking process, whereby a more socially accepted addiction is cultivated as an initial strategy to help hide a less desirable one). Here, spending time online instead of socializing with friends and family was considered the hidden behaviour, as this has negative social connotations to do with nonappropriate age hobby and limited social abilities (Sussman et al, 2014). In contrast, working excessively was considered the more socially acceptable behaviour, as it is encouraged and rewarded in many organizations (Griffiths & Karanika-Murray, 2012).…”

“…As opposed to CIU, workaholism is socially acceptable and even rewarded, to the extent to which the individual could be enhancing long-term family wellbeing. In this sense, Sussman, Arpawong, Sun, Tsai, Rohrbach, and Sprutjt-Metz (2014) argue that this is a 'nurturance' type of addiction. In contrast, CIU would sit more comfortably in the 'pleasure seeking' type of addictions.…”

Addiction to Work: A Critical Review of the Workaholism Construct and Recommendations for Assessment

“…Studies examining motivational dispositions of workaholism have found that working excessively is not related to controlled motivation, which is a commonly cited antecedent of the key compulsive element of workaholism ( Van den Broeck et al, 2011). In addition, the excessive working scale has shown marginal internal consistency in some studies (Sussman et al, 2014). Although returning to the original addiction perspective, Schaufeli et al (2009a) did not build on the accumulated evidence in this fi eld and, together with the discussed issues, it limits the direct applicability of this tool for diagnosis in clinical practice.…”

“…This matrix comprises providing a rigorous defi nition of addiction and evaluating the extent to which respondents believe they are addicted to one or more of the objects typically including behaviors such as sex, relationships, work, and psychoactive substances (Cook, 1987;Sussman et al, 2011Sussman et al, , 2014. Cook (1987) was a pioneer in this matrix method when he developed the Problem History Questionnaire that built on Peele's (1985) conceptualization of addiction.…”

“…In the development study with college students, work addiction was one of the most prevalent addictions (17.5%). Building on matrix methods, Sussman et al (2014) examined the prevalence of multiple addictions in alternative high school students who had been part of a drug abuse prevention program 3 years prior to data collection. The authors found that 20% of respondents reported having been addicted to work.…”