Prevalence and Correlates of Internet Gaming Disorder Among an Advanced Level Student Population from Colombo, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Background: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is on the rise in many developing countries owing to the increasing popularity of electronic gaming and technology availability among adolescents. Despite this, the epidemiology of IGD in South Asia remains largely unknown. Hence, we aimed to determine the prevalence and associations of IGD in a Sri Lankan school-going population. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among Advanced Level students aged 16-18 years, attending four schools in the Colombo Educational Zone. Random Cluster sampling was used to recruit 395 participants who filled a pretested questionnaire exploring gaming habits, motives, and psychosocial factors. English and Sinhala versions of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) were used and IGD was identified if ?5 items in the scale were endorsed. The Sinhala IGDS9-SF demonstrated acceptable internal consistency reliability and its factorial validity was affirmed via Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Results: 81.5% (n=322) of the sample consisted of gamers, a majority of whom preferred mobile gaming (64.0%) and Multiplayer Battle Royale games (27.0%). The prevalence of IGD was 5.06% (95% CI = 2.90–7.22) and was significantly higher (p<0.05) among males who constituted 52.4% of the sample. Daily weekday gaming for ?6h, low involvement in student societies, poor relationship with parents, Escape motive and Fantasy motive were positively associated, and the Competition motive was negatively associated with IGD in multivariable analyses done using binary logistic regression. Conclusion: The prevalence of IGD was considerably high in our population and is associated with specific motives, poor parent-child relationship, and low extra-curricular involvement.