Despite social media use being one of the most popular activities among adolescents, prevalence estimates among teenage samples of social media (problematic) use are lacking in the field. The present study surveyed a nationally representative Hungarian sample comprising 5,961 adolescents as part of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). Using the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS) and based on latent profile analysis, 4.5% of the adolescents belonged to the at-risk group, and reported low self-esteem, high level of depression symptoms, and elevated social media use. Results also demonstrated that BSMAS has appropriate psychometric properties. It is concluded that adolescents at-risk of problematic social media use should be targeted by school-based prevention and intervention programs.

Aims To estimate the pooled prevalence of compulsive buying behaviour (CBB) in different populations and to determine the effect of age, gender, location and screening instrument on the reported heterogeneity in estimates of CBB and whether publication bias could be identified. Methods Three databases were searched (Medline, PsychInfo, Web of Science) using the terms 'compulsive buying', 'pathological buying' and 'compulsive shopping' to estimate the pooled prevalence of CBB in different populations. Forty studies reporting 49 prevalence estimates from 16 countries were located (n = 32 000). To conduct the meta-analysis, data from non-clinical studies regarding mean age and gender proportion, geographical study location and screening instrument used to assess CBB were extracted by multiple independent observers and evaluated using a random-effects model. Four a priori subgroups were analysed using pooled estimation (Cohen's Q) and covariate testing (moderator and meta-regression analysis). Results The CBB pooled prevalence of adult representative studies was 4.9% (3.4-6.9%, eight estimates, 10 102 participants), although estimates were higher among university students: 8.3% (5.9-11.5%, 19 estimates, 14 947 participants) in adult non-representative samples: 12.3% (7.6-19.1%, 11 estimates, 3929 participants) and in shopping-specific samples: 16.2% (8.8-27.8%, 11 estimates, 4686 participants). Being young and female were associated with increased tendency, but not location (United States versus non-United States). Meta-regression revealed large heterogeneity within subgroups, due mainly to diverse measures and time-frames (current versus life-time) used to assess CBB. Conclusions A pooled estimate of compulsive buying behaviour in the populations studied is approximately 5%, but there is large variation between samples accounted for largely by use of different time-frames and measures.

Video games are more popular than ever and the general public, including parents, educators, and the media, tends to consider intense video gaming fundamentally problematic. To test this hypothesis, participants were recruited via gaming-related websites resulting in a sample of N = 5,222 online video gamers (mean age: 22.2 years, SD = 6.4). Besides assessing gaming time, we administered the Ten-Item Internet Gaming Disorder Test, the Brief Symptom Inventory, and the Motives for Online Gaming Questionnaire. Two structural regression models were estimated with both gaming time and problematic gaming as outcome variables. Predictors were psychiatric symptoms in the first, and gaming motives in the second model. Both models yielded adequate fit indices. Psychiatric symptoms had a moderate positive effect on problematic use (β = .46, p< .001) whereas their effect on gaming time was practically zero (β = -.01, p = .84). In the second model, Escape was the most prominent motive and was moderately to-strongly associated (β = .58, p < .001) with problematic use. However, the association between Escape and gaming time was substantially weaker (β = .21, p < .001). The correlation between gaming time and problematic use was weak-to-moderate in both models (r = .26, p < .001 and r = .21, p < .001, respectively). Data suggest that gaming time is weakly associated with negative psychological factors such as psychiatric symptoms and Escape motive, which were found to be consistently related to problematic use. Therefore, the amount of gaming time alone appears to be an unreliable predictor of problematic use, which questions the aforementioned idea that intense gaming is essentially problematic. (PsycINFO Database Record

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Compulsive buying is a relatively new psychopathological concept and very few data are currently available regarding the prevalence and validity of compulsive buying disorder. In this cross-sectional study, we establish the prevalence of compulsive buying disorder in shopping mall visitors and explore the construct validity of the concept using the revised version of the Edwards Compulsive Buying Scale in 1,441 shopping mall visitors looking at shopping habits, current substance use (smoking, alcohol and illicit drug) and various psychological characteristics. Overall,3) of our sample was classified as having a compulsive buying disorder. Compulsive buyers were younger, less educated and more likely to be female than non-compulsive buyers. They were also more likely to have used licit and illicit substances. Compulsive buyers also reported higher levels of impulsivity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms, lower levels of well-being and self-esteem and more psychological distress. Finally, compulsive buyers were five times more likely to meet criteria for borderline personality disorder than non-compulsive buyers. Compulsive buying is a frequent disorder in shopping mall visitors and is associated with important and robust indicators of psychopathology thus supporting the validity of the construct. Dear Professor Buchsbaum, E ö t v ö s L or á n d U n i ve r s i t y * I ns t i t ut e of P sy c h ol o g y D E P A R T M E N T O F C L I N I C A L P S Y C H O L O G Y Aniko MarazWe would like the attached manuscript titled 'Prevalence and construct validity of compulsive buying disorder in shopping mall visitors' to be considered for publication in Psychiatry Research. Although there is considerable research regarding in the field of compulsive buying behavior, the prevalence of the validity of the disorder are relatively unknown. In this cross-sectional study, 8.7% of our sample (n=1441) had compulsive buying disorder and we found that compulsive buying is associated with important and robust indicators of psychopathology thus supporting the validity of the construct.The authors (Aniko Maraz, Wim van den Brink, Zsolt Demetrovics) declare that they do not have any interests that could constitute a real, potential or apparent conflict of interest with respect to his/her involvement in the publication. The authors also declare that they do not have any financial or other relations (e.g. directorship, consultancy or speaker fee) with companies, trade associations, unions or groups (including civic associations and public interest groups) that may gain or lose financially from the results or conclusions in the study.The study was exclusively carried out by the investigators. The authors of this manuscript had full access to all the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. This paper has not been, nor will be, published in whole or in part by any other journal and is under consideration for publication elsewhere. The submission to your journal ha...