The Conceptualisation and Measurement of DSM-5 Internet Gaming Disorder: The Development of the IGD-20 Test

Abstract

BackgroundOver the last decade, there has been growing concern about ‘gaming addiction’ and its widely documented detrimental impacts on a minority of individuals that play excessively. The latest (fifth) edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) included nine criteria for the potential diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and noted that it was a condition that warranted further empirical study. Aim: The main aim of this study was to develop a valid and reliable standardised psychometrically robust tool in addition to providing empirically supported cut-off points.MethodsA sample of 1003 gamers (85.2% males; mean age 26 years) from 57 different countries were recruited via online gaming forums. Validity was assessed by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), criterion-related validity, and concurrent validity. Latent profile analysis was also carried to distinguish disordered gamers from non-disordered gamers. Sensitivity and specificity analyses were performed to determine an empirical cut-off for the test.ResultsThe CFA confirmed the viability of IGD-20 Test with a six-factor structure (salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict and relapse) for the assessment of IGD according to the nine criteria from DSM-5. The IGD-20 Test proved to be valid and reliable. According to the latent profile analysis, 5.3% of the total participants were classed as disordered gamers. Additionally, an optimal empirical cut-off of 71 points (out of 100) seemed to be adequate according to the sensitivity and specificity analyses carried.ConclusionsThe present findings support the viability of the IGD-20 Test as an adequate standardised psychometrically robust tool for assessing internet gaming disorder. Consequently, the new instrument represents the first step towards unification and consensus in the field of gaming studies.

Portuguese Validation of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale: an Empirical Study

“…Although the BFAS appears to be unidimensional, the instrument's six items tapped into different and well-established behavioral addiction criteria (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse). In fact, the components model of addiction (Griffiths, 2005) has received empirical support for several behavioral addictions, such as exercise addiction (Terry, Szabo, & Griffiths, 2004), Internet Gaming Disorder (Pontes, Király, Demetrovics, & Griffiths, 2014), generalized IA (Kuss, Shorter, van Rooij, van de Mheen, & Griffiths, 2014), work addiction (Andreassen, Griffiths, Hetland, & Pallesen, 2012), shopping addiction , and even addiction to studying (i.e., a precursor to work addiction) (Atroszko, Andreassen, Griffiths, & Pallesen, 2015).…”

“…For instance, assessment of the optimal cut-off point for this instrument based on clinical data (e.g., structured interviews) or empirical data (e.g., latent class/profile analysis) could be carried out. Previous studies have used similar approaches in determining cut-off points of instruments assessing behavioral addictions (Pontes, Király, et al, 2014). For this reason, and because to date there are no clinical or empirical evidence from such studies to support the suggested cut-off point for this instrument, caution is needed when classifying potential cases of addiction to Facebook.…”

Validation of the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) and evaluation of the nine DSM-5 Internet Gaming Disorder criteria

“…Over 20 instruments have been developed to assess problematic gaming but few have been properly validated and the lack of consensual definition led to inconsistencies in the assessment criteria (see King et al, 2013;Király, Nagygyörgy, Koronczai, Griffiths, & Demetrovics, 2015;. The inclusion of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) in Section 3 of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), led to an upsurge of new psychometric tools designed to assess problematic gaming according to the nine DSM-5 IGD criteria (e.g., Lemmens, Valkenburg, & Gentile, 2015;Pontes, Király, Demetrovics, & Griffiths, 2014;Rehbein, Kliem, Baier, Mößle, & Petry, 2015). Additionally, the concept of IGD has stirred debate among scholars in terms of the validity of each nine IGD criteria and how to better operationally define such criteria in light of knowledge on problematic gaming accumulated over three decades (Griffiths, van Rooij, et al, 2015;van Rooij & Prause, 2014).…”

The psychometric properties of the Turkish version of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale

“…Although IGD is not yet recognized as an official clinical entity (16), several new promising psychometric tools covering the nine IGD criteria have been developed following the formal recognition of this condition by the APA in May 2013 (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21).…”