The desire thinking questionnaire-Persian version (DTQ-P) and its association with addictive behaviors in individuals with alcohol use disorder, nicotine dependence, and problematic social media use

Desire Thinking About Gambling: Assessment and Associations With Gambling Disorder and Responsible Gambling Among Chinese Gamblers

Desire thinking, within the metacognitive model of addictive behaviors, is conceptualized as a transdiagnostic process linked to the escalation and maintenance of craving for various addictive disorders; however, its application to the understanding of gambling and the Chinese community remains at an early stage. The present study aimed to introduce desire thinking into gambling research in the Chinese context by: (1) testing the applicability of its two-factor conceptualization and assessment tool, the Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ), and (2) exploring its association with dysregulated and regulated engagements in gambling (i.e., Gambling Disorder [GD] and responsible gambling [RG], respectively). We conducted a telephone survey in Macao, China, and obtained a probability sample of 837 Chinese adult past-year gamblers (48.5% men; age: M = 41.11, SD = 14.31) with a two-stage cluster random sampling method. Our data indicated the psychometric adequacy of the two-factor DTQ (i.e., verbal perseveration and imaginal prefiguration) for measuring Chinese gamblers' desire thinking about gambling. After controlling for craving and demographics, desire thinking contributed to an additional 12.1% and 18.9% variance explained in GD tendency and RG behaviors, respectively. This study provides the first empirical evidence of the utility of desire thinking and the DTQ in facilitating gambling research on Chinese gamblers. Our findings also suggest the value of incorporating desire thinking in detecting and treating GD and in promoting RG.

Problematic smartphone use and sleep disturbance: the roles of metacognitions, desire thinking, and emotion regulation

Background

The association between problematic Smartphone use (PSU) and sleep disturbance is evidenced in the literature, but more research is required to investigate the potential factors that may influence the effect of PSU on sleep disturbance. Given the considerable prevalence of PSU (9.3 to 36.7%) and sleep disturbance (55.2%) in Iran, the current study sought to examine an interactional model to test whether metacognitions about Smartphone use, desire thinking (verbal perseveration and imaginal prefiguration), and emotion regulation (expressive suppression and cognitive reappraisal) could have a moderating effect on the above-mentioned association.

Method

This present study is a cross-sectional, observational study that was conducted between June and September 2022 in a convenience sample of Iranians (n = 603, Female = 419, Age = 24.61 ± 8).

Results

Despite the significant association between metacognitions about the Smartphone use, PSU, and sleep disturbance, metacognitions failed to predict sleep disturbance above PSU. A slope analysis showed, however, that a high (not low or moderate) levels of imaginal prefiguration strengthen the association between PSU and sleep disturbance, while a high (not low or moderate) level of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression dampen the PSU-sleep disturbance association. We also found that verbal perseveration and expressive suppression were unique predictors of sleep disturbance, while imaginal prefiguration and reappraisal only predicted sleep disturbance if they interacted with PSU.

Conclusion

Theoretically, findings suggest that enhancing cognitive reappraisal (by 1 SD) and reducing imaginal prefiguration (by 1 SD), might protect against sleep disturbance by reducing its association with PSU. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Psychometric validation of the Chinese version of the desire thinking questionnaire in adolescent mobile phone users

BACKGROUND

Desire thinking is a conscious and voluntary cognitive process that is closely linked to levels of craving and addictive behaviors. The Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ) can be used to measure desire thinking in all age groups as well as in addicts. This measurement has also been translated into several languages. This study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the DTQ (DTQ-C) among adolescent mobile phone users.

METHODS

One thousand and ninety-seven adolescents who own a mobile phone and are younger than 18 years old completed the DTQ-C and a battery of questionnaires assessing the big five personality traits, negative affect, brooding, self-control, craving, and problematic mobile phone use (PMPU). The psychometric analyses of the DTQ-C were conducted, including exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability, and validity analysis.

RESULTS

The EFA revealed a 10-item two-factor structure (i.e., verbal perseveration and imaginal prefiguration) that was confirmed by the CFA. The results of CFA showed fit indexes of χ²/df = 4.83, CFI = 0.967, TLI = 0.954, RMSEA = 0.059, SRMR = 0.032. The total scale had internal consistency reliabilities of 0.93, which demonstrated that DTQ-C presented good reliability. The two dimensions were correlated with PMPU (r_{verbal perseveration} = 0.54; r_{imaginal prefiguration} = 0.45), neuroticism (r_{verbal perseveration} = 0.18; r_{imaginal prefiguration} = 0.14), conscientiousness (r_{verbal perseveration} = -0.19; r_{imaginal prefiguration} = -0.18), depression (r_{verbal perseveration} = 0.22; r_{imaginal prefiguration} = 0.16), anxiety (r_{verbal perseveration} = 0.26; r_{imaginal prefiguration} = 0.22), stress (r_{verbal perseveration} = 0.15; r_{imaginal prefiguration} = 0.10) and self-control (r_{verbal perseveration} = -0.29; r_{imaginal prefiguration} = -0.26), which demonstrated that DTQ-C presented good concurrent validity. The two factors of DTQ-C correlated weakly with brooding (ranging from 0.08 to 0.10). The principal component factor analysis of the two dimensions of desire thinking and craving showed that craving and desire thinking belonged to different dimensions. Both of which showed good divergent validity of desire thinking. Additionally, an examination of incremental validity revealed that two factors were both positively associated with PMPU beyond demographic characteristics, big five personality traits, negative affect, and self-control (B_{verbal perseveration} = 0.49 and B_{imaginal prefiguration} = 0.13).

CONCLUSIONS

It has been found that the 10-item DTQ-C is a reliable and valid measure of desire thinking in Chinese adolescent mobile phone users.

The fear in desire: linking desire thinking and fear of missing out in the social media context

According to the Elaborated Intrusion Theory of Desire, desire thinking and an associated deficit are fundamental factors to the emergence of craving. In the special case of problematic social networking sites (SNS) use, this experienced deficit could be constituted of an online-specific fear of missing out (FoMO). To test the interaction of these cognitions and their influence on problematic SNS use, we tested a serial mediation model on a sample of N = 193 individuals who use SNS (73% female, M_age = 28.3, SD = 9.29). We found that desire thinking predicted FoMO and both variables were only significant predictors of problematic SNS use when considered in interplay with craving. Ad hoc analyses revealed that the verbal subcomponent of desire thinking is more strongly associated with FoMO than imaginal prefiguration. Our results highlight that neither desire thinking nor FoMO are inherently dysfunctional but become problematic when they increase craving for potentially problematic SNS use.

License to look? The role of permissive beliefs, desire thinking, and self-control in predicting the use of social networking sites

Permissive beliefs are considered the most proximal predictor of actual behavior. Whereas they have frequently been researched in substance-use disorders, the field of social networking sites (SNS) use is missing the investigation as to how relevant permissive beliefs might be in this context, what might be causal precursors of permissive beliefs (i.e., desire thinking), and which processes might influence the effect that permissive beliefs have on actual behavior (i.e., self-control). To answer these questions, 116 people who use SNS participated in an online survey that contained an experimental manipulation of desire thinking and questionnaires measuring permissive beliefs, self-control, and severity of problematic SNS use. In a one-week follow-up, 85 participants reported their SNS usage times. Results showed that the association between permissive beliefs and tendencies to use SNS problematically was not significant. The experimental manipulation led to a decrease in permissive beliefs in the control condition, but did not increase permissive beliefs in the desire thinking condition. Permissive beliefs predicted SNS use in the follow-up assessment, which was not moderated by self-control. The results suggest that permissive beliefs seem to be unrelated to addictive tendencies of SNS use, but are nevertheless associated with daily use. Desire thinking does not appear to activate permissive beliefs in this study, possibly because the use of social networks is less often experienced as conflicting. Due to its ubiquitous availability, the use of social networks itself might quickly resolve the conflict between desires and possible regulatory attempts, making good reasons for use unnecessary.

Association between desire thinking and problematic social media use among a sample of Lebanese adults: The indirect effect of suppression and impulsivity

BACKGROUND

Desire thinking, impulsivity and suppression are psychological variables that are intricately related to behavioral addictions. Bearing in mind the scarcity of data on desire thinking, impulsivity, thought suppression and pathological social media use in developing countries such as Lebanon, with the existing literature suggesting a heightened mental health burden associated with this problematic social media use, it becomes all the more important to elucidate their relationship. Our study aims at investigating the association between desire thinking and problematic social media use specifically, and to further test the effect of impulsivity and thought suppression in mediating the relation between the two distinct facets of desire thinking and problematic social media use.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study was carried out between November 2021 and March 2022 using a sample of 414 community-dwelling participants aged above 18 years from all Lebanese districts. The data was collected through an online questionnaire including a section about sociodemographic information, the Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ), Impulsive Behavior Scale (S-UPPS-P), White Bear Suppression Inventory (WBSI) and Social Media Disorder Short Form (SMD). The tests used in the bivariate analysis to assess correlates of SMD were the Student t test to compare two means and the Pearson test to correlate two continuous scores. The PROCESS SPSS Macro version 3.4, model four was used to conduct the mediation analysis.

RESULTS

Desire thinking was shown to correlate with increased social media use. Moreover, we found that suppression and lack of premeditation mediated the association between verbal perseveration and social media use disorder whereas suppression and urgency mediated the association between imaginal prefiguration and social media use disorder.

CONCLUSION

This study provides new insight on a topic of increasing public health concern. Although understudied to date, suppression and impulsivity differentially mediate the influence of both facets of desire thinking on problematic social media use disorder. The current findings point to the highly pervasive issue of social media use disorder and the need to investigate underlying psychological factors that aggravate it to better profile and support individuals struggling with it.

The role of desire thinking in the problematic use of social networking sites among adults

The problematic use of social networking sites (SNS) is associated with several psychiatric disorders. This behavior closely resembles addiction in terms of neurological basis and behavioral patterns. Nevertheless, successful intervention strategies and the etiology of problematic SNS use are not yet thoroughly investigated. We aimed to study whether desire thinking is associated with problematic SNS use among adults when controlling for some confounders, including boredom, affect, and impulsivity. With the help of convenience sampling, we enrolled 546 Turkish adults in this study to whom we administered a sociodemographic form, the Social Media Addiction Scale (SMAS), the Leisure Boredom Scale (LBS), the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS), the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale (BIS-11), and the Desire Thinking Questionnaire (DTQ). To explore the association between the variables, we performed Pearson correlational and hierarchical regression analyses. The results showed that higher scores on two sub-dimensions of desire thinking, namely verbal perseveration and imaginal prefiguration, were associated with higher scores on problematic SNS use after we controlled for boredom, affect, and impulsivity. This study demonstrates that desire thinking may play a role in problematic SNS use among adults. We recommend targeting desire thinking as a potential area in treatments which may help alleviate problematic SNS use.

The independent contribution of desire thinking to problematic social media use

In the present study, we investigated the role of desire thinking in problematic social media use (PSMU) whilst accounting for negative affect, impulsivity, and thought suppression. A sample of individuals with PSMU (n = 350) who used social media at least 8 h daily was recruited. Participants completed measures of negative affect, impulsivity, thought suppression, craving, desire thinking, and PSMU. Results indicated that negative affect, impulsivity, and thought suppression had significant indirect effects on craving and PSMU through the significant mediating role of desire thinking. The present study shows that desire thinking is an underlying mechanism linking established variables associated with PSMU (negative affect, impulsivity, and thought suppression) to craving and PSMU. Focusing efforts on the interruption of desire thinking may be beneficial to support individuals in disengaging from PSMU.