Profiles of potential behavioral addictions' severity and their associations with gender, personality, and well-being: A person-centered approach

Depression, anxiety, and stress in young adult gamers and their relationship with addictive behaviors: A latent profile analysis

BACKGROUND

There is limited research examining latent profiles of gamers based on emotional variables, which has implications for prevention efforts. The study sought to identify young adult gamer profiles based on depression, anxiety, and stress, and to examine differences between the latent profiles in other addictive behaviors (i.e., tobacco, alcohol, cannabis, illegal substance use, gaming, and gambling).

METHODS

A total of 1209 young adults (Mage = 19.37, SD = 1.62; 55.3%males) reported past-year gaming. A latent profile analysis (LPA) was performed to identify distinct profiles, and a set of ANOVA and chi-square analyses characterized the profiles in terms of sociodemographic, addictive behaviors, and emotional variables.

RESULTS

LPA suggested a three-profile solution: profile 1 (n = 660, 'low emotional distress'), profile 2 (n = 377, 'moderate emotional distress'), and profile 3 (n = 172, 'high emotional distress'). Participants with 'moderate' and 'high emotional distress' were mostly women, showed greater gaming severity, higher prevalence of past-month substance use (i.e., tobacco and illegal drugs), and greater consequences of alcohol use.

LIMITATIONS

The cross-sectional nature of the study and sample being university students.

CONCLUSION

Findings revealed three distinct profiles of gamers, which differed in emotional, gaming, and substance use severity. Transdiagnostic prevention programs have the potential to provide significant benefits to college students by addressing the core processes (e.g., emotion regulation) that underlie substance use and gaming.

Work addiction and personality organization: Results from a representative, three-wave longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

Several studies have explored the relationship between personality and work addiction, suggesting that individuals with certain mental disorders, including personality disorders such as obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), may be more prone to work addiction. However, the characterization of personality organization (PO) among workaholics and its contribution to the persistence of work addiction remains unclear.

METHODS

In this longitudinal study of a representative sample of young adults (N = 1748), we applied the Bergen Work Addiction Scale and the Inventory of Personality Organization.

RESULTS

We found significant correlations between work addiction and identity diffusion, primitive psychological defenses, reality testing, and overall personality disorganization across three waves. A latent class growth analysis revealed three profiles: no work addiction, increasing work addiction, and constant moderate work addiction. Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicated that higher levels of personality disorganization in wave 1 and increases in personality disorganization between waves 1 and 3 were associated with higher odds of belonging to the increasing work addiction group. Similarly, higher overall personality disorganization in wave 1 was associated with higher odds of belonging to the constant moderate work addiction group.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that individuals with chronic work addiction have lower levels of PO, and PO declines as work addiction persists. Screenings for work addiction are recommended to prevent potential mental health issues. Future research should explore the influence of workplace characteristics and work motivations on the association between work addiction and personality disorders.

Understanding the Emergence of Comorbidity between Problematic Online Gaming and Gambling: A Network Analysis Approach

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

Problematic online gaming and gambling tend to co-occur. The exact mechanisms underlying this phenomenon and the potential effects of gender differences remain unknown. This study aimed to identify the early clustering patterns of problematic online gaming and gambling in a community sample of young adults without a lifetime history of psychiatric treatment.

METHODS

Data were collected through an online survey and analyzed using partial correlations and Bayesian networks.

RESULTS

Altogether, 1441 individuals (aged 18-40 years, 51.4% females) participated in the survey. Both problematic online behaviors were weakly interrelated, suggesting that they serve as distinct constructs. Men's networks appeared to be more complex and had significantly higher global connectivity. Moreover, men and women differed with respect to the specific nodes that bridged both constructs. In men, the bridge nodes were "being criticized because of betting or being told about gambling problems", "loss of previous interests due to gaming", "deceiving other people because of gaming", and "health consequences of gambling". Among women, the bridge nodes were "feeling guilty because of gambling", "loss of previous interests because of gaming", "social consequences of gaming", and "continued gaming problems with other people". In men, the strongest edge was found between "borrowing money/selling anything to gamble" and "financial problems because of gambling", while in women, the strongest edge appeared between "betting more than afforded to be lost" and "tolerance symptoms of gambling".

CONCLUSIONS

The findings indicate that problematic online gaming and gambling tend to emerge in different ways among men and women. Therapeutic interventions should be planned considering gender differences.

Explaining work addiction through perceived behaviors of significant others in a family and organization: Gender differences

The objective of the study was to investigate the association between employees' work addiction and perceived work addiction of their immediate managers and parents, separate in samples of men and women. A total of 964 Lithuanian employees took part in the study. The levels of work addiction were assessed using the Bergen Work Addiction Scale (Andreassen, Griffiths, Hetland & Pallesen, 2012). We used the same scale to measure work addiction of the employees and perceived work addiction of their parents and immediate managers. The results showed that perceived work addiction of both parents and managers was related to higher levels of work addiction in women. We further found that the positive relationship between perceived work addiction of mothers and men's work addiction was as strong as the association between perceived work addiction of managers and men's work addiction. The positive relationship between perceived work addiction of fathers and men's work addiction was weaker as compared to that between perceived work addiction of managers and men's work addiction. All independent variables accounted for a greater part of the variance in work addiction of men than that of women.

Association between problematic social networking use and anxiety symptoms: a systematic review and meta-analysis

A growing number of studies have reported that problematic social networking use (PSNU) is strongly associated with anxiety symptoms. However, due to the presence of multiple anxiety subtypes, existing research findings on the extent of this association vary widely, leading to a lack of consensus. The current meta-analysis aimed to summarize studies exploring the relationship between PSNU levels and anxiety symptoms, including generalized anxiety, social anxiety, attachment anxiety, and fear of missing out. 209 studies with a total of 172 articles were included in the meta-analysis, involving 252,337 participants from 28 countries. The results showed a moderately positive association between PSNU and generalized anxiety (GA), social anxiety (SA), attachment anxiety (AA), and fear of missing out (FoMO) respectively (GA: r = 0.388, 95% CI [0.362, 0.413]; SA: r = 0.437, 95% CI [0.395, 0.478]; AA: r = 0.345, 95% CI [0.286, 0.402]; FoMO: r = 0.496, 95% CI [0.461, 0.529]), and there were different regulatory factors between PSNU and different anxiety subtypes. This study provides the first comprehensive estimate of the association of PSNU with multiple anxiety subtypes, which vary by time of measurement, region, gender, and measurement tool.

Problematic overstudying, Big Five personality, and music performance anxiety: associations with well-being and GPA

BACKGROUND

Problematic overstudying is a compulsive and pathological overinvolvement in studying leading to harm and considerable functional impairments. It is conceptualized as "study addiction," a precursor to work addiction. It has been investigated within the addictive behaviours framework in general populations of students for over a decade. A previous study analysed the problem among young musicians as a particularly vulnerable group. It found some important differences in potential personality risk factors among music academy students compared to general populations of students and showed an important role of social anxiety. The current study aimed to validate these findings in a separate larger sample and extend them by investigating the role of music performance anxiety (MPA).

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

The study was conducted among 213 students of music academies. Valid and reliable measures of study addiction, MPA, Big Five personality and well-being were used.

RESULTS

The results showed that MPA played a similar role as social anxiety in terms of being a predictor, mediator, and moderator of the main replicated effects supporting the hypothesised mechanisms regulating study addiction. However, extraversion was not associated with study addiction in multiple hierarchical regression analysis, but conscientiousness and neuroticism were. Study addiction was associated with indicators of decreased well-being, above and beyond MPA, and personality.

CONCLUSIONS

These results show that MPA plays an analogous role to social anxiety and that the role of Big Five personality in study addiction among young musicians requires further investigation due to inconsistent findings.

Risk and protective factor profiles predict addictive behavior among adolescents

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Internet gaming disorder (IGD), compulsive sexual behavior (CSB), and problematic social network usage (PSNU) are prevalent disorders among adolescents. Research indicates an increase in the number of adolescents engaging in daily gaming, sex, and the use of social networks, as well as an increase in the number of adolescents diagnosed with these disorders. The current study aims to detect unique profiles of risk and protective factors and examine whether these profiles could explain the different severities of IGD, CSB, and PSNU among adolescents.

METHOD

The sample comprised 544 Jewish Israeli adolescents from the general community (age 14-18), who were asked about risk (childhood adversity, childhood trauma, depression, anxiety, stress, post-traumatic stress, self-concealment, internalized stigma) and protective (parent-adolescent communication,) factors and addictive behaviors (IGD, CSB, and PSNU).

RESULTS

Adolescents were classified into three different clusters based on their risk and protective factors: "at risk" (n = 48, 8.82%), "moderate" (n = 400, 73.53%), and "resilient" (n = 96, 17.65%). The "at risk" group had significantly greater severity of addictive behaviors (IGD, CSB, and PSNU) than did the "moderate" or "resilient" groups, and the "moderate" group had significantly greater severity of addictive behaviors than the "resilient" group.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings highlight the fact that protective and risk factor profiles are highly indicative of various addictive behaviors among adolescents. The current research expands knowledge about addictive behaviors by providing a more individualized approach to understanding addictive behaviors among adolescents.

Co-occurrence of Common Biological and Behavioral Addictions: Using Network Analysis to Identify Central Addictions and Their Associations with Each Other

The present study used network analysis to examine the network properties (network graph, centrality, and edge weights) comprising ten different types of common addictions (alcohol, cigarette smoking, drug, sex, social media, shopping, exercise, gambling, internet gaming, and internet use) controlling for age and gender effects. Participants (N = 968; males = 64.3%) were adults from the general community, with ages ranging from 18 to 64 years (mean = 29.54 years; SD = 9.36 years). All the participants completed well-standardized questionnaires that together covered the ten addictions. The network findings showed different clusters for substance use and behavioral addictions and exercise. In relation to centrality, the highest value was for internet usage, followed by gaming and then gambling addiction. Concerning edge weights, there was a large effect size association between internet gaming and internet usage; a medium effect size association between internet usage and social media and alcohol and drugs; and several small and negligible effect size associations. Also, only 48.88% of potential edges or associations between addictions were significant. Taken together, these findings must be prioritized in theoretical models of addictions and when planning treatment of co-occurring addictions. Relatedly, as this study is the first to use network analysis to explore the properties of co-occurring addictions, the findings can be considered as providing new contributions to our understanding of the co-occurrence of common addictions.

Co-Occurrence of Gaming Disorder and Other Potentially Addictive Behaviours between Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom

Background: Evidence suggests that gamers can have varying experiences of disordered gaming behaviours due to coping mechanisms and how they can act as risk or protective factor in the development and/or maintenance of disordered behaviours. A particular area of interest is how this may manifest across different countries. Understanding the interplay of these potential risk and protective factors within different countries will aid identifying and preventing disordered behaviours. Methods: Three cohorts were recruited from Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Each cohort was required to complete a battery of psychometric scales exploring problematic behaviours, problematic substance use, co-occurrence, coping styles, and personality. A latent profile analysis was conducted to examine the differences between cohorts and further investigated with additional analyses. Results: The findings suggested that a minority of gamers were affected by gaming disorder, and there appeared an at-risk cohort who utilise gaming as a maladaptive coping strategy. Other accompanying potentially addictive behaviour or substance use may be exacerbated as a result, the manifestation of which can be influenced by cultural elements. Conclusions: When considering gamers from countries which hold similar views, it is important to be cognisant of the variations found in the manifestations of disordered gaming and accompanying potentially addictive behaviours. This will allow for a more precise identification of at-risk behaviours, which will result in more favourable treatment outcomes for those who are considered at-risk or high-risk individuals.

The Modified Yale Food Addiction Scale May Be Simplified and Diagnostically Improved: The Same Prevalence but Different Severity and Risk Factors of Food Addiction among Female and Male Students

The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS) is the most commonly used scale for measuring food addiction (FA). The previous approach to the YFAS and its subsequent versions assumed dichotomization of items, separating addiction symptoms and clinical significance items, and factorial validity testing on a subset of items. In this paper, we discuss the drawbacks associated with these procedures. In addition, we present a different analytical approach to investigate the validity of the modified YFAS (mYFAS) along with an alternative scoring method that overcomes limitations related to the previous approach. After establishing the structure of the mYFAS, we investigated the potential antecedents and consequences of FA separately for men and women. The sample consisted of 1182 Polish undergraduate students (613 women, 559 men, 10 missing values on gender) with a mean age of 20.33 years (SD = 1.68; range: 18–36). They were asked to complete self-report questionnaires measuring FA, personality traits (Big Five), self-esteem, narcissism, self-efficacy, social anxiety, loneliness, and well-being indicators. Due to the low content, factorial, and clinical validity, the first three items were excluded from the Polish version of the mYFAS. The six-item mYFAS demonstrated measurement invariance, allowing for meaningful comparisons between genders and yielded almost identical prevalence rates for men and women. The hierarchical multiple regression analysis showed that, narcissism, and social anxiety predicted FA in both genders, whereas important gender differences in antecedents were also noted. In addition, FA was associated with body mass index (BMI) and most of the well-being indicators, even after controlling for relevant variables. The findings suggest that our modified analytical approach allows researchers to measure FA using a valid, useful, and simple tool.

What Do We Know When We Know a Compulsive Buying Person? Looking at Now and Ahead

Over the last few decades, research has seamlessly confirmed the marked multicausal nature of compulsive buying, since variables from different realms (e.g., family, social, and contextual domains) have demonstrated their explanatory capacity. However, it has been personality variables that have, to a greater extent, aroused the interest of researchers, leading to what is now a cumbersome richness of personal constructs of different nature that seem to require some arrangement under integrative frameworks. The proposal by McAdams under the suggestive title of "What do we know when we know a person?" is, in this regard, especially attractive and thought-provoking. McAdams approaches us to the person as a whole by establishing three differentiated levels (dispositional traits, personal concerns or characteristics adaptations, life story), and it will be precisely these levels that will become the structure we will use to address the state of the art on compulsive buyers. The location of the multiple personal variables analyzed at each of the levels with a common grammar will allow us to identify what it is known, as well as what remains to be done in each space. Lastly, suggestions for the future are given, with particular emphasis on advancing our understanding of the person from each of the academic vantage points but also the suitability of designing studies that integrate and/or build bridges between dispositional traits, characteristic adaptations, and life narratives. The hope is that research in the coming years satisfactorily integrates the different visions of the person to achieve a more comprehensive, nuanced portrait of a person with compulsive buying problems.

Compulsive Study Behaviors Are Associated with Eating Disorders and Have Independent Negative Effects on Well-Being: A Structural Equation Model Study among Young Musicians

Compulsive overworking and eating disorders (EDs) show considerable similarities in terms of risk factors (e.g., rigid perfectionism), clinical manifestation (e.g., excessive controlling behaviors), and consequences (e.g., physical exhaustion and depression). This study aimed to examine the hypotheses that compulsive study behaviors (conceptualized as study addiction) are related to EDs and that they have independent negative effects on well-being among young musicians, who constitute a highly vulnerable population for these types of problematic behaviors. The relatively high prevalence of study addiction and its pronounced negative relationship with psychosocial functioning make it a pending challenge for sustainable education. A total of 255 students from various music academies in Poland took part in the study. The Bergen Study Addiction Scale, assessing compulsive studying (conceptualized as addictive behavior), the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26), the Perceived Stress Scale, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and the quality-of-life measure were used. A structural equation model was investigated. Study addiction was positively related to the general factor of EDs and the social pressure component. Both problematic behaviors showed negative and independent effects on the well-being of young musicians. EDs may be 8 to 16 times more prevalent among the students of music academies who are addicted to studying than among the general population. About 80% of those students showing all seven symptoms of study addiction exhibited at least mild depression, while more than half had clinically significant levels of depression. Almost 90% had clinically significant levels of anxiety. Without addressing co-occurring study addiction and eating disorders, including their commonalities and idiosyncrasies, their prevention and treatment cannot be effective and it will substantially affect the sustainability of education and work.

Assessment of Criteria for Specific Internet-use Disorders (ACSID-11): Introduction of a new screening instrument capturing ICD-11 criteria for gaming disorder and other potential Internet-use disorders

Background and aims

With the inclusion of gaming disorder in the ICD-11, diagnostic criteria were introduced for this relatively new disorder. These criteria may also be applied to other potential specific Internet-use disorders, which may be classified in ICD-11 as other disorders due to addictive behaviors, such as online buying-shopping disorder, online pornography-use disorder, social-networks-use disorder, and online gambling disorder. Due to the heterogeneity in existing instruments, we aimed to develop a consistent and economic measure of major types of (potential) specific Internet-use disorders based on ICD-11 criteria for gaming disorder.

Methods

The new 11-item Assessment of Criteria for Specific Internet-use Disorders (ACSID-11) measures five behavioral addictions with the same set of items by following the principles of WHO's ASSIST. The ACSID-11 was administered to active Internet users (N = 985) together with an adaptation of the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test (IGDT-10) and screeners for mental health. We used Confirmatory Factor Analyses to analyze the factor structure of ACSID-11.

Results

The assumed four-factorial structure was confirmed and was superior to the unidimensional solution. This applied to gaming disorder and to the other specific Internet-use disorders. ACSID-11 scores correlated with IGDT-10 as well as with the measures of psychological distress.

Discussion and Conclusions

The ACSID-11 seems to be suitable for the consistent assessment of (potential) specific Internet-use disorders based on ICD-11 diagnostic criteria for gaming disorder. The ACSID-11 may be a useful and economic instrument for studying various behavioral addictions with the same items and improving comparability.

Subpopulations of Addictive Behaviors in Different Sample Types and Their Relationships with Gender, Personality, and Well-Being: Latent Profile vs. Latent Class Analysis

BACKGROUND

Relatively strong theoretical assumptions and previous studies concerning co-occurring addictive behaviors suggest a subpopulation representing general proclivity to behavioral addictions (BAs), and there are gender-specific subpopulations. This study aimed to compare latent profile analysis (LPA) and latent class analysis (LCA) as the methods of investigating different clusters of BAs in the general student population and among students positively screened for at least one BA. Participants and procedure: Analyses of six BAs (study, shopping, gaming, Facebook, pornography, and food) and their potential antecedents (personality) and consequences (well-being) were conducted on a full sample of Polish undergraduate students (N = 1182) and a subsample (n = 327) of students including individuals fulfilling cutoff for at least one BA.

RESULTS

LPA on the subsample mostly replicated the previous four profiles found in the full sample. However, LCA on a full sample did not replicate previous findings using LPA and showed only two classes: those with relatively high probabilities on all BAs and low probabilities. LCA on the subsample conflated profiles identified with LPA and classes found with LCA in the full sample.

CONCLUSIONS

LCA on dichotomized scores (screened positively vs. negatively) were less effective in identifying clear patterns of interrelationships between BAs based on relatively strong theoretical assumptions and found in previous research. BAs can be investigated on the whole spectrum of behavior, and person-centered analyses might be more useful when they are based on continuous scores. This paper provides more detailed analyses of the four basic clusters of BAs, prevalence, and co-occurrence of particular BAs within and between them, their gender and personality risk factors, relationships to well-being, and their interrelationships as emerging from the results of this and previous studies.