Prevalence of internet gaming disorder and its psychological correlates

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the prevalence of internet gaming disorder (IGD) symptoms in a sample of Brazilian adults, and its association with personality, psychiatric symptoms and psychosocial measures. Methods: We evaluated 219 adults online recruited using questionnaires and psychometric scales. We evaluated the behavior and pattern of internet games using the Game Addiction Scale (GAS). We tested the association of the previous measures with the GAS scores by spearman correlations and multiple regression analysis. Results: Of our sample, 74% played games online. We found correlations between IGD symptoms and most symptoms of mental disorders, with small or moderate effect sizes, as well as correlations with the personality traits of agreeableness (r =-0.272; p < 0.001), conscientiousness (r =-0.314; p < 0.001), and neuroticism (r = 0.299; p < 0.001). Additionally, we found a negative association with psychosocial outcomes such as quality of life (r =-0.339; p < 0.001) and life satisfaction (r =-0.202; p < 0.003). The multivariate model included the personality traits of conscientiousness and agreeableness and symptoms of dissociation and somatization as predictors. The prevalence of IGD was 9% in those who played online games. Conclusion: IGD is correlated with different areas of the individual’s life, such as personality, quality of life, and several common symptoms of mental disorders. The prevalence can be considered high among players (9%). Conscientiousness, agreeability, somatic symptoms, and dissociative symptoms were associated with the symptoms of IGD.