Development of a Novel Method of Assessing Potential Loss of Control in Internet Gaming Disorder

Abstract

As video game play has increased in popularity, so too have reports that a subset of individuals play games in a way that causes negative consequences to their lives, which has resulted in the proposed inclusion of internet gaming disorder (IGD) as a formal mental health diagnosis. Given the mass popularity of video games, it is critical that screening materials for this proposed disorder are sufficiently sensitive to ensure that individuals who suffer harm are identified, while those who do not are not mislabeled as such. Here, we examined the extent to which participants’ responses to a typical IGD questionnaire predicted academic behaviors that could be associated with harm. We recruited 42 college students and tracked their gaming and studying habits weekly over the course of one semester, taking particular note of weeks in which participants did or did not have exams. We predicted that college students overall would spend less time engaging with video games and more time with academics when they had exams, but such modulations would be smaller among individuals with more initial IGD symptoms (i.e., the “more IGD symptoms” group, as compared to the “fewer IGD symptoms” group, would show loss of control). We did not find that college students overall spent less time engaging with video games and more time with academics when they had exams, but post hoc effect size analyses indicated that our study was underpowered. Implications of potential results using this methodology are discussed and estimates of powerful sample sizes are provided.