Commentary on: Are we overpathologizing everyday life? A tenable blueprint for behavioral addiction research : Problems with atheoretical and confirmatory research approaches in the study of behavioral addictions

Background and Aims This commentary is written in response to a paper by Billieux, Schimmenti, Khazaal, Maurage and Hereen (2015) published in the Journal of Behavioral Addictions. Methods It supports and extends the arguments by Billieux, Schimmenti et al. (2015): that the study of behavioral addictions too often rests on atheoretical and confirmatory research approaches. This tends to lead to theories that lack specificity and a neglect of the underlying processes that might explain why repetitive problem behaviors occur. Results In this commentary I extend the arguments by Billieux, Schimmenti et al. (2015) and argue that such research approaches might take us further away from conceptualizing psychiatric diagnoses that can be properly validated, which is already a problem in the field. Furthermore, I discuss whether the empirical support for conceptualizing repetitive problem behaviors as addictions might rest on research practices that have been methodologically biased to produce a result congruent with the proposal that substance addictions and behavioral addictions share similar traits. Conclusions I conclude by presenting a number of ways of going forward, chief of which is the proposal that we might wish to go beyond a priori assumptions of addiction in favor of identifying the essential problem manifestations for each new potential behavioral addiction

Support children by supporting parents (because grown-ups need guidance too!): examples from Sweden

Daniel Kardefelt-Winther looks at digital gaming and parental struggles to guide and protect their children in a digital world where one of the most popular activities is perceived as both beneficial and a cause for concern. Daniel is a post-doctoral researcher at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, where he conducts research on internet and gaming addiction. Currently he works as Research Coordinator at UNICEF Office of Research where he coordinates a global project on Children’s Rights in the Digital Age. He tweets via @Winthernet

Lost in the chaos : flawed literature should not generate new disorders

Kuss and colleagues’ paper ‘Chaos and confusion in DSM-5 diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder’ sets out to examine issues relating to the concept. We agree that there are serious issues and extend their arguments by suggesting that the field lacks basic theory, definitions, patient research, and properly validated and standardized assessment tools. As most studies derive data from survey research in functional populations, they exclude people with severe functional impairment and provide only limited information on the hypothesized disorder. Yet findings from such studies are widely used and often exaggerated, leading many to believe that we know more about the problem behavior than we do. We further argue that video game play is associated with several benefits and that formalizing this popular hobby as a psychiatric disorder is not without risks. It might undermine children's right to play or encourage repressive treatment programs, which ultimately threaten children’s right to protection against violence. While Kuss and colleagues express support for the formal implementation of a disorder, we argue that before we have a proper evidence base, a sound theory, and validated assessment tools, it is irresponsible to support a formal category of disorder and doing so would solidify a confirmatory approach to research in this area

Excessive internet use: fascination or compulsion?

Excessive internet use and its problematic outcomes is a growing focus of research, receiving attention from academics, journalists, health workers, policymakers and the public. However, surprisingly little has yet been accomplished in terms of understanding the causes and consequences of this phenomenon. I argue that this is due to the framing of excessive internet use as an addiction, which leads researchers to neglect people’s reasons and motivations for excessive internet use. The perspective taken in this thesis is that excessive internet use may help people to cope with difficult life situations. This explains why people keep using the internet excessively despite problematic outcomes: the overall experience is positive because worse problems are alleviated. Based on the relationship between a person’s well-being, which is the focal point of literature on excessive internet use, and the motivations for media use grounded in uses and gratifications research, this thesis proposes a combined framework to examine if excessive internet use may be explained as a coping strategy taken to excess. This question was asked in relation to three online activities: World of Warcraft; Facebook; and online poker. Each group was surveyed about their psychosocial well-being, motivations for internet use, and any problematic outcomes. Findings showed that interactions between motivations for use and psychosocial well-being were important explanatory factors for problematic outcomes. Respondents with low self-esteem or high stress experienced more problematic outcomes when gaming or gambling to escape negative feelings, while escapist use was less problematic for players with high self-esteem or low stress. This has implications for how society needs to respond to cases of excessive internet use, since such behaviour can be both helpful and harmful. Future studies may usefully move beyond theories of addiction and consider excessive internet use as a coping behaviour that has both positive and negative outcomes

Using research findings for policymaking

Internet-related policy is a topic of fierce global debate, with questions such as, should it be national or international, who should oversee it, what should it relate to, how should it be developed and who should be the main stakeholders? When it comes to children and the internet, things are particularly complex as policies related to child rights tend to be scattered across different domains (health, education, welfare and justice), and are not always linked to broad public policy objectives related to the digital economy, digital society or to internet governance. This Guide examines the relationship between research and policy in this area, and supports researchers to frame their objectives and findings in ways that (directly or indirectly) support policy development processes that affect children. We start by examining the current policy landscape related to children and the internet, and the key issues and drivers behind these policies. We then make concrete suggestions and recommendations about how to ensure evidence is relevant and used to facilitate the policy-making process

Lost in the chaos: Flawed literature should not generate new disorders

The paper by Kuss, Griffiths, and Pontes (2016) titled “Chaos and confusion in DSM-5 diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder: Issues, concerns, and recommendations for clarity in the field” examines issues relating to the concept of Internet Gaming Disorder. We agree that there are serious issues and extend their arguments by suggesting that the field lacks basic theory, definitions, patient research, and properly validated and standardized assessment tools. As most studies derive data from survey research in functional populations, they exclude people with severe functional impairment and provide only limited information on the hypothesized disorder. Yet findings from such studies are widely used and often exaggerated, leading many to believe that we know more about the problem behavior than we do. We further argue that video game play is associated with several benefits and that formalizing this popular hobby as a psychiatric disorder is not without risks. It might undermine children’s right to play or encourage repressive treatment programs, which ultimately threaten children’s right to protection against violence. While Kuss et al. (2016) express support for the formal implementation of a disorder, we argue that before we have a proper evidence base, a sound theory, and validated assessment tools, it is irresponsible to support a formal category of disorder and doing so would solidify a confirmatory approach to research in this area

Global Kids Online: researching children's rights globally in the digital age

Drawing on an ongoing international research project, Global Kids Online, this article examines the theoretical and methodological challenges of conducting global research on children’s rights in the digital age at a time of intense socio-technological change and contested policy development. Arguing in favour of critically rethinking existing research frameworks and measures for new circumstances, we report on the experience of designing a research toolkit and piloting this in four countries on four continents. We aim to generate national and cross-national insights that can benefit future researchers and research users concerned to build a robust evidence base to understand children’s rights in the digital age. It is hoped that such experiences will prompt wider lessons for the unfolding research and policy agend

Global Kids Online research toolkit: qualitative guide

The qualitative toolkit comprises the research instruments that will help you design, carry out, and analyse the qualitative research on children’s online risks and opportunities. These are designed in a way that allows covering the key topics identified by Global Kids Online, as well as remaining flexible and following up on issues that children raise

Global Kids Online research toolkit: getting started with the Global Kids Online research toolkit

The Global Kids Online research toolkit has been developed with country partners, experts, and international advisors. The Getting started guide introduces the research principles and resources

Global Kids Online research toolkit: quantitative guide

The quantitative toolkit comprises the research instruments that will help you to design and carry out the quantitative survey research on children’s online risks and opportunities. It also includes the materials needed for analysing the data and expert guidance on key issues to consider during the research process