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

Background and aims: The inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in Section III of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has increased the interest of researchers in the development of new standardized psychometric tools for the assessment of such a disorder. To date, the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale - Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) has only been validated in English, Portuguese, and Slovenian languages. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to examine the psychometric properties of the IGDS9-SF in an Italian-speaking sample. Methods: A total of 757 participants were recruited to the present study. Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group analyses were applied to assess the construct validity. Reliability analyses comprised the average variance extracted, the standard error of measurement, and the factor determinacy coefficient. Convergent and criterion validities were established through the associations with other related constructs. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine an empirical cut-off point. Results: Findings confirmed the singlefactor structure of the instrument, its measurement invariance at the configural level, and the convergent and criterion validities. Satisfactory levels of reliability and a cut-off point of 21 were obtained. Discussion and conclusions: The present study provides validity evidence for the use of the Italian version of the IGDS9-SF and may foster research into gaming addiction in the Italian context

Do personality traits and self-regulatory processes affect decision-making tendencies?

Objective: This research attempted to clarify the role played by personality traits and self-regulated motivation in affecting decision-making tendencies. Method: Study 1 (n = 209) examined whether the Big Five personality traits predict minimising, maximising, and satisficing tendencies; Study 2 (n = 460) tested the mediating role of self-regulatory orientations in the relationship between personality traits and decision-making tendencies by performing structural equation modelling with latent variables. Results: Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest positive predictor of maximising, whereas openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness emerged as negative predictors of satisficing. As for the mediational model, both locomotion and assessment played a role in mediating the relationships between the personality traits and decision-making tendencies. Conclusions: This research provided interesting insights into the underlying motivations and strategies that lead individuals to maximise, satisfice, or minimise

Sportspersonship in martial arts.

Studies on psychological outcomes related to individual differences have increased showing contradictory results, especially in martial arts. The difficulty to provide conclusive evidence for the psychological outcomes of martial arts practice and to determine if and to what extent martial arts trainings explain the above mentioned effects needs a more in-depth analysis of those dispositional aspects which can impact adaptive behaviors in terms of sportspersonship. Since no studies on sportspersonship and goal orientations has been carried out in the specific context of martial arts, the current research aimed at examining the role of goal orientations and trait aggressiveness as predictors of sportspersonship. A cross-sectional study was conducted. 389 Italian martial artists (Mage = 29.60, SD = 9.22) completed a questionnaire composed of four sections: a socio-anagraphic section, the Multidimensional Sportspersonship Orientations Scale, the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, and the Aggression Questionnaire. Descriptive and casual analyses were applied to data. The expected hypotheses were generally confirmed. Results suggested that ego orientation and trait aggressiveness negatively predicted sportspersonship, whereas task orientation positively predicted a sportspersonship attitude. In sum, this research contributed to a better identification of the dispositional factors which prevent antisocial behaviors, especially in the context of martial arts

Decisional procrastination in academic settings: The role of metacognitions and learning strategies

Nowadays, university students suffer from a broad range of problems, such as educational underachievement or the inability to control themselves, that lead to procrastination as a consequence. The present research aimed at analyzing the determinants of decisional procrastination among undergraduate students and at assessing a path model in which self regulated learning strategies mediated the relationship between metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination. 273 students from Southern Italy filled out a questionnaire composed by: the socio-demographic section, the Metacognitive Beliefs About Procrastination Questionnaire, the procrastination subscale of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire, and the Anxiety, the Time Management, and the Information Processing subscales of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory. Results showed that the relationship between negative and positive metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination was mediated only by time management and anxiety. Such findings underlined the crucial role played by learning strategies in predicting the tendency to delay decisional situations and in mediating the relationship between metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination

A latent profile approach for the study of internet gaming disorder, social media addiction, and psychopathology in a normative sample of adolescents

Background: For a small minority of individuals, the overuse of digital technologies has been associated with negative factors, including psychological distress and psychopathological symptoms. Two technology-based addictions – internet gaming disorder (IGD) and social media addiction (SMA) – have been found to be related to comorbid disorders and impulsivity especially in adolescents and emerging adults’ populations, but results in this field are inconclusive. Purpose: Using the latent profile analysis (LPA), this study identified different profiles of adolescents characterized by unique patterns of psychopathological risks, and similar levels of impulsivity, IGD, and SMA. Participants and methods: A total of 643 participants (312 males; Mage =16.02 years) were divided into three age groups (early, mid-, and late adolescence). They completed a battery of scales comprising: Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short Form, Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale for Adolescents, and Symptom Checklist-90-R. Results: LPAs revealed distinct profiles across early, mid- and late adolescence with regards to the psychopathological variables taken into account. Specifically, only two profiles were identified in the 14–15 year age group, whereas three profiles emerged in the 16–17 year age group. Conclusion: This study highlighted that the profiles identified in each age group differed in terms of psychopathological risk (low, medium and high), showing instead similar (and non-clinical) scores in technology-based addictions and impulsivity. Results could be useful in designing prevention and intervention programs in youth showing similar patterns for technology-based addictions, but different levels of psychopathological symptoms

Psychometric testing of three Chinese online-related addictive behavior instruments among Hong Kong university students

Objective: To validate the Chinese version of the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scales- Short Form (IGDS-SF9), Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), and Smartphone Application-Based Addiction Scale (SABAS) among Hong Kong university students. Participants and Methods: Participants aged between 17 and 30 years participated in the present study (n=307; 32.4% males; mean [SD] age=21.64 [8.11]). All the participants completed the IGDS-SF9, BSMAS, SABAS, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were used to examine the factorial structures and the unidimensionality for IGDS-SF9, BSMAS, and SABAS. Results: CFAs demonstrated that the three scales were all unidimensional with satisfactory fit indices: comparative fit index = 0.969 to 0.992. In addition, the IGDS-SF9 and BSMAS were slightly modified based on the modification index in CFA. Conclusions: The Chinese IGDS-SF9, BSMAS, and SABAS are valid instruments to assess the addiction levels of internet-related activities for Hong Kong university students

Problematic Attachment to Social Media: Lived Experience and Emotions

People's relationship with social media and their contacts on them can be problematic. People may engage in social media in a compulsive and hasty style to increase their popularity, reputation and enhance their self-esteem. However, this problematic attachment to social media may result in side effects on people’s well-being. Therefore, people may need assistance to reform their relationship with social media in a way that it maintains different aspects of their online interaction, such as empathy with others and maintaining their popularity and relatedness. In order to provide the tools and methods to support people in reforming their relationship with social media, towards a healthier usage style, we need to understand the experience of people who suffer a problematic relationship with them. Most studies on the topic are based on methods which would lack ecological validity, e.g. using surveys and interviews, and do not capture or imitate such a digital experience as lived. In an attempt to better explore how people experience problematic attachment and relationship with social media, and their associated emotions, we conducted a multistage qualitative method study including a diary study to gather lived experience. We aim to inform both users and designers towards a managed and tool-supported reform of their problematic relationship with social media and, ultimately, having a healthier online interaction

Problematic Instagram use: the role of perceived feeling of presence and escapism

The use of social networking sites is becoming increasingly popular. Although there are many studies investigating the problematic use of social networking sites such as Facebook, little is known about problematic Instagram use (PIU) and factors related to it. The present study developed a complex model in order to examine the mediating role of perceived feeling of presence (i.e., social, spatial, and co-presence) and escapism between using different Instagram features and PIU. A total of 333 Instagram users from a high school and a state university, aged between 14 and 23 years (Mage = 17.74 years, SD = 2.37, 61% female), completed a "paper-and-pencil" questionnaire comprising measures of social presence, spatial presence, co-presence, Instagram escapism, and PIU. In addition, frequency of use of five different Instagram features (i.e., watching live streams; watching videos; looking at posted photographs; liking, commenting on others' posts; and getting likes and comments from others) were assessed using a 7-point Likert scale. Analysis indicated that watching live streams was indirectly associated with PIU via escapism, spatial presence, and co-presence. Leaving likes and comments on others' posts was both directly and indirectly associated with PIU via co-presence and escapism. Escapism mediated the relationships between social and spatial presence and co-presence and PIU. The findings of the present study appear to indicate that a minority of individuals use Instagram problematically and that problematic Instagram use is associated with the frequency of watching live streams, liking, and commenting on others’ posts on Instagram, being able to feel a higher sense of presence using Instagram, and using Instagram as an escape from reality

Sportspersonship In Martial Arts

Studies on psychological outcomes related to individual differences have increased showing contradictory results, especially in martial arts. The difficulty to provide conclusive evidence for the psychological outcomes of martial arts practice and to determine if and to what extent martial arts trainings explain the above mentioned effects needs a more in-depth analysis of those dispositional aspects which can impact adaptive behaviors in terms of sportspersonship. Since no studies on sportspersonship and goal orientations has been carried out in the specific context of martial arts, the current research aimed at examining the role of goal orientations and trait aggressiveness as predictors of sportspersonship. A cross-sectional study was conducted. 389 Italian martial artists (Mage = 29.60, SD = 9.22) completed a questionnaire composed of four sections: a socio-anagraphic section, the Multidimensional Sportspersonship Orientations Scale, the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, and the Aggression Questionnaire. Descriptive and casual analyses were applied to data. The expected hypotheses were generally confirmed. Results suggested that ego orientation and trait aggressiveness negatively predicted sportspersonship, whereas task orientation positively predicted a sportspersonship attitude. In sum, this research contributed to a better identification of the dispositional factors which prevent antisocial behaviors, especially in the context of martial arts

Sportspersonship Behaviours: An Exploratory Investigation of Antecedents.

The current study proposed a path model of sportspersonship using self-determined motivation as mediating variable and sport orientations as distal determinants. 166 competitive level athletes divided into two groups according to the type of sport (individual and team sports) completed a questionnaire composed of the following sections: socio-anagraphic data, Sport Orientation Questionnaire, Sport Motivation Scale, and Multidimensional Sport Orientation Scale. ANOVA analysis and path mediational model were applied. Results showed a main effect of gender and type of sports on sport orientations, and the indirect effects of sport orientations on sportspersonship, as well as the mediational role of self-determined sport motivation within this model. Additional research with a larger sample and other constructs will be needed in order to confirm, and possibly extend, the present findings. However, this study could be considered as a starting point for educational approaches especially for young sports people