Spanish validation of the Internet Gaming Disorder-20 (IGD-20) Test

Abstract

In recent years, problematic and addictive gaming has been a phenomenon of growing concern worldwide. In light of the increasing awareness about this issue, the latest Introduction Internet Gaming DisorderEver since Griffiths (1995) coined the term 'technological addictions', research in this field has grown considerably, especially in the area of addiction to videogames and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) (Carbonell, Guardiola, Beranuy, & Bellés, 2009). In light of increasing awareness and empirical research into this issue in North America, Europe and Asia, the American Psychiatric (iv) unsuccessful attempts to control participation in internet games; (v) loss of interest in previous hobbies as a result of, and with the exception of, internet games; (vi) continued excessive use of internet games despite knowledge of the resulting psychosocial problems; (vii) deceiving family members, therapists and others with regard to the amount of internet gaming; (viii) use of internet games to escape from or reduce negative moods; and (ix) jeopardizing or losing a significant relationship, job or educational opportunity due to online gaming (APA, 2013). An individual who endorses five or more of these criteria over a period of 12 months is considered to be a disordered gamer. Griffiths (2005) has argued that while there are always some idiosyncratic differences between addictive behaviors, there are six common components that comprise both chemical and behavioral addictions (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict and relapse). As has been noted previously (Griffiths, King, & Demetrovics, 2014), the nine IGD criteria correspond to the six components proposed in Griffiths' addiction model (2005). Support for the model comes from a number of studies that have developed and validated behavioral addiction scales and instruments using the six components for behaviors such as exercise addiction (Terry et al., 2004), shopping (Andreassen et al., 2015), gaming addiction (Lemmens et al., 2009), work addiction (Andreassen et al., 2012a), internet addiction (Kuss et al., 2014), and social networking addiction (Andreassen et al., 2012b). Disorder Test (IGD-20 Test), a 20-item scale designed to assess IGD.Psychometric analyses of the IGD-20 Test displayed good results in terms of both validity and reliability. In addition, the results obtained from the model showed an acceptable degree of fit with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), lending support to the test's factorial validity. More specifically, the test's criterion validity and concurrent validity were justified via the significant correlations existing between IGD-20 test results and (i) hours of weekly game play and (ii) the nine criteria for IGD in the DSM-5. Assessment of problematic gamingThe assessment of problematic gaming has received extensive scholarly attention and has been subject to numerous debates due to the current unofficial status of this condition and the more general negative me...

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

“…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).…”

“…Higher scores indicate higher degree of gaming disorder. In the present study, the IGDS9-SF had excellent reliability with an internal consistency coefficient (Cronbach’s α) of .96, and is comparable with the coefficients reported in other studies (Fuster et al., 2016; Pontes & Griffiths, 2015, 2016). …”

“…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). …”

Internet Gaming Disorder Treatment: A Case Study Evaluation of Four Different Types of Adolescent Problematic Gamers

“…The patients were voluntary treatmentseekers and diagnosed by clinical psychologists. The inclusion criteria were as follows: (i) endorsing at least five or more of the nine IGD criteria according to DSM-5 (APA 2013), (ii) scoring 71 or more on IGD-20 Test (Pontes et al 2014) adapted to Spanish population (Fuster et al 2016), (iii) being aged 12 to 18 years, (iv) providing informed consent and consequent participation in the study, (iv) not having a severe mental disorder or intellectual disability, and (v) understanding the national language. The sample chosen to write about in the present paper was specifically selected to represent different clinical characteristics and profiles.…”

Current practices in the clinical and psychometric assessment of internet gaming disorder in the era of the DSM-5: A mini review of existing assessment tools

“…This is particularly noticeable by the development and publication of assessment tools that completely overlap with existing ones [e.g., 9], adding further confusion to the field. Notwithstanding this, Table 1 makes it clear that researchers are indeed attempting to move the area forward and further beyond its 'unofficial' status since most of the newly developed assessment tools have consistently relied on the nine IGD criteria as the rationale for devising such instruments [9][10][11][12]. On the other hand, however, such studies are bound to provide potentially meaningful evidence in the near future either in favor or against the way in which IGD is defined and conceptualized by the APA, allowing new evidence-based criteria and models to emerge and fill in potential gaps [13][14][15].…”