Internet addiction (IA) has emerged as a universal issue, but its international estimates vary vastly. This multinational meta-analysis fills this gap by providing estimates of its global prevalence. Two hypotheses were formulated to explain the cross-national variations. The accessibility hypothesis predicts that IA prevalence is positively related to Internet penetration rate and GDP per capita, whereas the quality of (real) life hypothesis predicts that IA prevalence is inversely related to a global national index of life satisfaction and specific national indices of environmental quality. Multiple search strategies were used in an attempt to retrieve all empirical reports from 1996 to 2012 that adopted the Young Diagnostic Questionnaire or Internet Addiction Test for assessing generalized IA. The data set comprised 164 prevalence figures derived from 80 reports, including 89,281 participants from 31 nations across seven world regions. A random effects meta-analysis showed a global prevalence estimate of 6.0% [95% CI 5.1-6.9], with moderate heterogeneity (I(2)=44%, p<0.0001). The highest prevalence was in the Middle East with 10.9% [95% CI 5.4-16.3], and the lowest was in Northern and Western Europe with 2.6% [95% CI 1.0-4.1]. Moreover, IA prevalence was higher for nations with greater traffic time consumption, pollution, and dissatisfaction with life in general. The prevalence rate of IA varies across world regions. IA prevalence is inversely associated with the quality of life, as reflected by both subjective (life satisfaction) and objective (quality of environmental conditions) indicators.

Since the inclusion of gaming disorder in the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) as a condition for further study, there has been an increasing consensus that problematic gaming can be detrimental to mental health, yet efforts in preventing such problems from emerging have been limited. To address this gap, we developed the Game Over Intervention (GOI), a parent-based program designed based on the frameworks of ecological systems theory and self-determination theory. This study aimed to test the efficacy of the new program using the method of a randomized controlled trial, with the control condition being a program for effective learning. Participants were the parents of upper primary school students, with 163 (77% women; Mage = 42.70) and 199 (83% women; Mage = 41.82) partaking in the intervention and the control conditions, respectively. Participants rated their children’s gaming time, exposure to violent video games, and symptoms of gaming disorder at three time points: baseline, one week after intervention, and three months after intervention. The results indicate a general reduction in these three criteria across the three-month period. Our study provides tentative evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of the GOI in mitigating some gaming-related problems.

Studies have shown that children frequently experiencing poor parent-child interaction are prone to video gaming-related problems, but it is unclear which specific aspects of such an interaction play a predictive role in the problems. To extend previous research that relies primarily on the self-report method to assess parent-child interaction, we conducted a longitudinal, mixed-methods study. In a laboratory setting, three major aspects of interaction (i.e., affectivity, cohesiveness, and parental behavior) were observed in 241 parent-child dyads (Children: 43 percent female, age range = 8-15, M = 12.09, SD = 1.41; Parents: 78 percent female, age range = 27-63, M = 44.44, SD = 6.09). In addition, both parent and children participants completed questionnaires that measured children's symptoms of Internet gaming disorder (IGD) and exposure to violent video games at baseline (Time 1) and 12 months later (Time 2). The results revealed that at Time 1, positive affectivity and cohesiveness were inversely associated with child-report symptoms of IGD. Also, Time 1 coerciveness (i.e., control dimension of parental behavior) was positively associated with Time 1 child-report exposure to violent video games and Time 2 child-report symptoms of IGD, respectively. Apart from main effects, the results also showed that Time 1 negative affectivity moderated the protective effects of Time 1 positive affectivity on Time 1 parent-report and Time 2 child-report exposure to violent video games, respectively. Overall, this study identifies various key aspects of parent-child interaction that may serve as concurrent or temporal predictors of video gaming-related issues.