1
|
Vera Cruz G, Aboujaoude E, Liberacka-Dwojak M, Wiłkość-Dębczyńska M, Rochat L, Khan R, Khazaal Y. How much online pornography is too much? A comparison of two theoretically distinct assessment scales. Arch Public Health 2024; 82:79. [PMID: 38816773 PMCID: PMC11137999 DOI: 10.1186/s13690-024-01294-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 06/01/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Online pornography use, an ever more common activity, has raised myriad psychosocial and clinical concerns. While there is a need to screen for and measure its problematic dimension, there is a debate about the adequacy of existing assessment tools. OBJECTIVE The study compares two instruments for measuring pathological online pornography use (POPU) that are based on different theoretical frameworks-one in line with DSM-5 criteria and the six-component addiction model and one in line with ICD-11 criteria. METHODS An international sample of 1,823 adults (Mean age = 31.66, SD = 6.74) answered an online questionnaire that included the Short Version of the Problematic Pornography Consumption Scale (PPCS-6) and the Assessment of Criteria for Specific Internet-Use Disorders (ACSID-11). Factorial, correlational, and network analyses were conducted on the data. RESULTS Both tools adequately screened for online "addictive" behavior, but the ACSID-11 was superior in assessing the degree of clinical risk. CONCLUSION Depending on the specific aim of the assessment (screening vs. clinical diagnostics), both online pornography measurement tools may be useful.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Germano Vera Cruz
- Department of Psychology, CRP-CPO, University of Picardie Jules Verne, Amiens, France.
| | - Elias Aboujaoude
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.
- Program in Internet, Health and Society, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
| | | | | | - Lucien Rochat
- Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, Specialized Facility in Behavioral Addiction ReConnecte, University Hospitals of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Riaz Khan
- Department of Mental Health and Psychiatry, Frontier Medical College Abbottabad, Bahria University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Yasser Khazaal
- Addiction Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Lausanne University Hospital and Lausanne University, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Research Centre, University Institute of Mental Health at Montreal and Department of Psychiatry and Addiction Montreal University, Montreal, Canada.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Karhulahti VM. Vitality structures in 'addictive' game design. OPEN RESEARCH EUROPE 2024; 4:47. [PMID: 38854673 PMCID: PMC11162526 DOI: 10.12688/openreseurope.17177.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/19/2024] [Indexed: 06/11/2024]
Abstract
For decades, research on technology use and mental health has been based on the assumption that identifiable structures of 'design' are psychologically relevant for their users. This has been central especially for the nosological emergence of 'behavioural addictions', which currently involve two formal diagnoses involving technology: problems related to playing gambling games (gambling disorder) and videogames (gaming disorder). Alas, the research on identifying 'addictive' design structures has suffered from major construct validity issues. To make progress across those issues, I draw from the history of 'vitality affects' in psychiatry and introduce vitality structures as a design-phenomenological framework that can help researchers conceptualise clinically (and non-clinically) relevant 'bonds' between entities of game design and corresponding player phenomenology. Vitality structures are not natural kinds to be discovered but pragmatic constructs to be created and used: they are useful as long as they communicate what is both identifiable and empirically prevalent. As a demonstration of practice, I propose working conceptualizations of three vitality structures, which surface in videogames that have been prevalent sources of self-identified problems among gaming treatment-seekers. Systematic programs of research for identifying relevant vitality structures across technological, psychological, and psychiatric contexts can lead to construct-valid and replicable design effects.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Veli-Matti Karhulahti
- Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Fournier L, Schimmenti A, Musetti A, Boursier V, Flayelle M, Cataldo I, Starcevic V, Billieux J. Deconstructing the components model of addiction: an illustration through "addictive" use of social media. Addict Behav 2023; 143:107694. [PMID: 36940658 DOI: 10.1016/j.addbeh.2023.107694] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2022] [Revised: 01/31/2023] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023]
Abstract
The components model of addiction posits that all addictions share six components, namely salience, tolerance, mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, and conflict. This highly influential model has resulted in the development of numerous psychometric instruments that measure addictive behaviors according to these criteria. However, recent research suggests that, in the context of behavioral addictions, certain components constitute peripheral features that do not distinguish non-pathological from pathological behavior. Using "addictive" use of social media as a representative example, we examined this perspective by testing whether these six components actually assess central features of addiction, or whether some of them constitute peripheral features that are not indicative of a disorder. Four independent samples totaling 4,256 participants from the general population completed the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, a six-item psychometric instrument derived from the components model of addiction to assess social media "addiction". By performing structural equation modeling and network analyses, we showed that the six components did not form a unitary construct and, crucially, that some components (i.e., salience, tolerance) were not associated with measures assessing psychopathological symptoms. Taken together, these results suggest that psychometric instruments based on the components model conflate central and peripheral features of addiction when applied to behavioral addictions. This implies that such instruments pathologize involvement in appetitive behaviors. Our findings thus call for renewing the conceptualization and assessment of behavioral addictions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Loïs Fournier
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Adriano Schimmenti
- Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, UKE - Kore University of Enna, Cittadella Universitaria, 94100 Enna, Italy.
| | - Alessandro Musetti
- Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Industries, University of Parma, 43121 Parma, Italy.
| | - Valentina Boursier
- Department of Humanities, University of Naples "Federico II", 80133 Naples, Italy.
| | - Maèva Flayelle
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Ilaria Cataldo
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, 38068 Rovereto, Trento, Italy.
| | - Vladan Starcevic
- Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Medical School, Nepean Clinical School, University of Sydney, Penrith, NSW 2751, Australia.
| | - Joël Billieux
- Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland; Center for Excessive Gambling, Addiction Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), CH-1011 Lausanne, Switzerland.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Development of an Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire (O-FAQ): Are most people really social addicts? Behav Res Methods 2021; 53:1097-1106. [PMID: 32974872 DOI: 10.3758/s13428-020-01462-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
A growing number of self-report measures aim to define interactions with social media in a pathological behavior framework, often using terminology focused on identifying those who are 'addicted' to engaging with others online. Specifically, measures of 'social media addiction' focus on motivations for online social information seeking, which could relate to motivations for offline social information seeking. However, it could be the case that these same measures could reveal a pattern of friend addiction in general. This study develops the Offline-Friend Addiction Questionnaire (O-FAQ) by re-wording items from highly cited pathological social media use scales to reflect "spending time with friends". Our methodology for validation follows the current literature precedent in the development of social media 'addiction' scales. The O-FAQ had a three-factor solution in an exploratory sample of N = 807 and these factors were stable in a 4-week retest (r = .72 to .86) and was validated against personality traits, and risk-taking behavior, in conceptually plausible directions. Using the same polythetic classification techniques as pathological social media use studies, we were able to classify 69% of our sample as addicted to spending time with their friends. The discussion of our satirical research is a critical reflection on the role of measurement and human sociality in social media research. We question the extent to which connecting with others can be considered an 'addiction' and discuss issues concerning the validation of new 'addiction' measures without relevant medical constructs. Readers should approach our measure with a level of skepticism that should be afforded to current social media addiction measures.
Collapse
|
5
|
Absence of Objective Differences between Self-Identified Addicted and Healthy Smartphone Users? INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH AND PUBLIC HEALTH 2021; 18:ijerph18073702. [PMID: 33916256 PMCID: PMC8037484 DOI: 10.3390/ijerph18073702] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2021] [Revised: 03/22/2021] [Accepted: 03/26/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
Smartphones are used by billions of people worldwide. However, some psychologists have argued that use of this technology is addictive, even though little research utilises objective smartphone usage records to verify this claim. We conducted an exploratory study to identify whether behavioural differences exist between those who self-identify as addicted smartphone users and those who do not. We gathered retrospective smartphone usage data from 131 Android users and asked them about their past use to compare their perception of their usage against their actual usage. We could not identify any reliable differences between the smartphone activity of those self-identified as addicted smartphone users and other users. Furthermore, smartphone scales are generally good at identifying who believes themselves to be addicted, although they do not reflect objective smartphone use. This study questions the use of self-report measures to diagnosis behavioural addictions without relevant psychopathological constructs and emphasises the need for more rigorous study to conceptualise smartphone addiction.
Collapse
|
6
|
Perales JC, King DL, Navas JF, Schimmenti A, Sescousse G, Starcevic V, van Holst RJ, Billieux J. Learning to lose control: A process-based account of behavioral addiction. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2019; 108:771-780. [PMID: 31846653 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.12.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/04/2019] [Revised: 12/13/2019] [Accepted: 12/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
Learning psycho(bio)logy has developed a solid corpus of evidence and theory regarding behavior control modes. The present article briefly reviews that literature and its influence on recent models in which the transition from goal-directed to compulsive behavior is identified as the main process underlying substance use disorders. This literature is also relevant to non-substance addictive disorders, and serves as basis to propose a restricted definition of behavioral addiction relying on the presence of behavior-specific compulsivity. Complementarily, we consider whether some activities can become disordered while remaining mostly goal-driven. Based on reinforcement learning models, relative outcome utility computation is proposed as an alternative mechanism through which dysfunctional behaviors (even not qualifying as addictive) can override adaptive ones, causing functional impairment. Beyond issues of conceptual delimitation, recommendations are made regarding the importance of identifying individual etiological pathways to dysregulated behavior, the necessity of accurately profiling at-risk individuals, and the potential hazards of symptom-based diagnosis. In our view, the validity of these recommendations does not depend on the position one takes in the nosological debate.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- José C Perales
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Mind Brain and Behavior Research Center (CIMCYC), University of Granada, Spain
| | - Daniel L King
- College of Education, Psychology, & Social Work, Flinders University, Australia
| | - Juan F Navas
- Department of Basic Psychology, Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain; Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, Spain.
| | | | - Guillaume Sescousse
- Lyon Neuroscience Research Center - INSERM U1028 - CNRS UMR5292, PSYR2 Team, University of Lyon, France
| | - Vladan Starcevic
- University of Sydney, Faculty of Medicine and Health, Sydney Medical School, Nepean Clinical School, Discipline of Psychiatry, Australia
| | - Ruth J van Holst
- Amsterdam UMC, University of Amsterdam, Department of Psychiatry, Amsterdam Institute for Addiction Research, Netherlands
| | - Joël Billieux
- Addictive and Compulsive Behaviours Lab. Institute for Health and Behaviour, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg; Institute of Psychology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Centre for Excessive Gambling, Lausanne University Hospitals (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland
| |
Collapse
|