A cross-national comparison of problematic gaming behavior and well-being in adolescents

Background and aims. The popularity of playing games among adolescents has increased during the last decades, possibly affecting the prevalence of problematic gaming behavior. The current study aimed to compare country-level prevalence rates of adolescents' problematic gaming behavior in five countries and identify cross-cultural similarities and differences in the relationship between problematic gaming and well-being (life satisfaction, psychological complaints, and peer support). Methods. Cross-national data from the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study were used. The sample comprised 14,398 gamers (61% boys) aged 11 to 16 (average age between 13.31 and 13.85) from Azerbaijan, England, Serbia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. Results. The findings showed that the prevalence of problematic gaming differs between countries. The highest prevalence of problematic gaming was seen in Azerbaijan (16.1%) and the lowest in the Netherlands (4.3%). In contrast, Azerbaijan reported the lowest gaming intensity, whereas the Netherlands and England showed the highest gaming intensity. Additional analyses revealed that problematic gaming was associated with lower life satisfaction, more psychological complaints, and lower peer support in all countries, although the strength of these associations varied between countries. Discussion and conclusions. The current study's results are consistent with the assumption that problematic gaming negatively affects adolescents' social and mental well-being. These findings are further discussed in light of the normalization theory which suggests that cultural gaming norms (i.e., the percentage of gamers per country) would influence the strength of the relationship between problematic gaming and adolescents' well-being. The present findings highlight the need for adequate prevention strategies aiming at problematic gaming among youngsters

Титульные страницы и содержание

This study gives an overview of Project STARS (Studies on Trajectories of Adolescent Relationships and Sexuality), a four-wave longitudinal study of 1297 Dutch adolescents. First, the sample, measures and four sub-projects are described. Second, hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine how key variables from the individual domain (impulsivity), parent domain (parent-adolescent relationship quality), peer domain (involvement with peers) and media domain (time spent on social networking sites), and their interactions predict changes in the experience with sexual behaviour of adolescents across time. Results showed that higher levels of impulsivity, lower quality of relation with parents, more frequent involvement with peers and more time spent on social networking sites at baseline predicted increases in sexual experience of adolescents over a subsequent 1.5-year time period. No interaction effects among the domains were found. The findings highlight the significance of a multi-domain approach to the study of adolescent sexual development

A cross-sectional study on gaming intensity and social vulnerability in adolescents that have a chronic condition

BackgroundAdolescents growing up with a chronic condition might experience more social vulnerabilities compared to their healthy peers as an indirect result of their conditions. This can lead to a relatedness need frustration for these adolescents. Consequently, they might spend more time playing video games compared to their peers. Research shows that both social vulnerability and gaming intensity are predictors for problematic gaming. Therefore, we investigated if social vulnerability and gaming intensity are more pronounced in adolescents that have a chronic condition compared to the general population; and if these levels reflect the levels of a clinical group being treated for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD).MethodsData on peer problems and gaming intensity were compared from three separate samples: a national representative sample of adolescents, a clinical sample of adolescents that are undergoing treatment for IGD, and a sample of adolescents diagnosed with a chronic condition.ResultsNo differences were found on either peer problems or gaming intensity between the group of adolescents that have chronic conditions and the national representative group. The group with chronic conditions scored significantly lower on gaming intensity than the clinical group. No significant differences were found between these groups on peer problems. We repeated the analyses for boys only. Similar results were found for the group with chronic conditions compared to the national representative group. The group with chronic conditions now scored significantly lower on both peer problems and gaming intensity than the clinical group.ConclusionAdolescents growing up with a chronic condition appear similar in their gaming intensity and peer problems compared to their healthy peers

A cross-sectional study on gaming intensity and social vulnerability in adolescents that have a chronic condition

BACKGROUND: Adolescents growing up with a chronic condition might experience more social vulnerabilities compared to their healthy peers as an indirect result of their conditions. This can lead to a relatedness need frustration for these adolescents. Consequently, they might spend more time playing video games compared to their peers. Research shows that both social vulnerability and gaming intensity are predictors for problematic gaming. Therefore, we investigated if social vulnerability and gaming intensity are more pronounced in adolescents that have a chronic condition compared to the general population; and if these levels reflect the levels of a clinical group being treated for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). METHODS: Data on peer problems and gaming intensity were compared from three separate samples: a national representative sample of adolescents, a clinical sample of adolescents that are undergoing treatment for IGD, and a sample of adolescents diagnosed with a chronic condition. RESULTS: No differences were found on either peer problems or gaming intensity between the group of adolescents that have chronic conditions and the national representative group. The group with chronic conditions scored significantly lower on gaming intensity than the clinical group. No significant differences were found between these groups on peer problems. We repeated the analyses for boys only. Similar results were found for the group with chronic conditions compared to the national representative group. The group with chronic conditions now scored significantly lower on both peer problems and gaming intensity than the clinical group. CONCLUSION: Adolescents growing up with a chronic condition appear similar in their gaming intensity and peer problems compared to their healthy peers

A cross-sectional study on gaming intensity and social vulnerability in adolescents that have a chronic condition

BACKGROUND: Adolescents growing up with a chronic condition might experience more social vulnerabilities compared to their healthy peers as an indirect result of their conditions. This can lead to a relatedness need frustration for these adolescents. Consequently, they might spend more time playing video games compared to their peers. Research shows that both social vulnerability and gaming intensity are predictors for problematic gaming. Therefore, we investigated if social vulnerability and gaming intensity are more pronounced in adolescents that have a chronic condition compared to the general population; and if these levels reflect the levels of a clinical group being treated for Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD). METHODS: Data on peer problems and gaming intensity were compared from three separate samples: a national representative sample of adolescents, a clinical sample of adolescents that are undergoing treatment for IGD, and a sample of adolescents diagnosed with a chronic condition. RESULTS: No differences were found on either peer problems or gaming intensity between the group of adolescents that have chronic conditions and the national representative group. The group with chronic conditions scored significantly lower on gaming intensity than the clinical group. No significant differences were found between these groups on peer problems. We repeated the analyses for boys only. Similar results were found for the group with chronic conditions compared to the national representative group. The group with chronic conditions now scored significantly lower on both peer problems and gaming intensity than the clinical group. CONCLUSION: Adolescents growing up with a chronic condition appear similar in their gaming intensity and peer problems compared to their healthy peers

Compulsive Internet Use Among Adolescents: Bidirectional Parent–Child Relationships

Although parents experience growing concerns about their children’s excessive internet use, little is known about the role parents can play to prevent their children from developing Compulsive Internet Use (CIU). The present study addresses associations between internet-specific parenting practices and CIU among adolescents, as well as the bidirectionality of these associations. Two studies were conducted: a cross-sectional study using a representative sample of 4,483 Dutch students and a longitudinal study using a self-selected sample of 510 Dutch adolescents. Results suggest that qualitatively good communication regarding internet use is a promising tool for parents to prevent their teenage children from developing CIU. Besides, parental reactions to excessive internet use and parental rules regarding the content of internet use may help prevent CIU. Strict rules about time of internet use, however, may promote compulsive tendencies. Finally, one opposite link was found whereby CIU predicted a decrease in frequency of parental communication regarding internet use

Social Media Use and Adolescents’ Sleep: A Longitudinal Study on the Protective Role of Parental Rules Regarding Internet Use before Sleep

The popularity of social media use among adolescents has raised concerns about the potentially harmful effects of social media use on adolescents’ sleep. Since longitudinal research considering this relationship is scarce, the present two-wave longitudinal study of 2021 secondary school students (Mage = 13.86, SD = 1.25) examined whether frequency of social media use and problematic social media use predicted adolescents’ bedtime and quality of sleep. Moreover, the protective role of parental rules regarding Internet and smartphone use one hour before sleep was examined. The findings indicated that strict parental rules about Internet and smartphone use before sleep might prevent negative consequences of social media use on bedtime and sleep quality, but only among less engaged social media users. Once adolescents are highly engaged social media users, strict parental rules do not seem to prevent negative media influences on sleep. This implies that limiting Internet accessibility before bedtime can help prevent adolescents’ sleep problems, but that regulation is less effective for adolescents who are already highly involved in social media use

Excuses to continue smoking: The role of disengagement beliefs in smoking cessation

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