Objective: The purpose of this paper was to contribute to the psychometric
properties and dimensionality of the IGD-20.
Method: An online survey was completed by 392 Italian online gamers (Mage
= 29.2, SD = 11.3; 45.2% males). A battery of self-report questionnaires was
administered to assess internet gaming disorder, internet addiction, loneliness,
anxiety, depression, stress, social-interaction anxiety, self-esteem, and perceived
social support. To test the factor structure of IGD-20, both traditional (i.e., EFA and
CFA) and innovative (i.e., ESEM) techniques were applied. Convergent, concurrent,
discriminant, and criterion-related validity were evaluated.
Results: Our study revealed the outperforming 3-factor ESEM model (χ2=39.951,
p = 0.0021; RMSEA = 0.056, 90% C.I. [0.032 - 0.079]; CFI = 0.986; TLI = 0.965;
and SRMR = 0.017; ω = .76, .77, and .79, respectively) as a new short version (IGD-
10SV) for the IGD-20. The validity of the IGD-10SV was supported by significant
associations with theoretically related measures.
Conclusions: The current findings support the adoption of the analytic ESEM
approach for complex multidimensional measures and the use of the IGD-10SV for the assessment of internet gaming disorder