In recent years, problematic and addictive gaming has been a phenomenon of growing concern worldwide. In light of the increasing awareness about this issue, the latest
Introduction
Internet Gaming DisorderEver since Griffiths (1995) coined the term 'technological addictions', research in this field has grown considerably, especially in the area of addiction to videogames and Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs) (Carbonell, Guardiola, Beranuy, & Bellés, 2009). In light of increasing awareness and empirical research into this issue in North America, Europe and Asia, the American Psychiatric (iv) unsuccessful attempts to control participation in internet games; (v) loss of interest in previous hobbies as a result of, and with the exception of, internet games; (vi) continued excessive use of internet games despite knowledge of the resulting psychosocial problems; (vii) deceiving family members, therapists and others with regard to the amount of internet gaming; (viii) use of internet games to escape from or reduce negative moods; and (ix) jeopardizing or losing a significant relationship, job or educational opportunity due to online gaming (APA, 2013). An individual who endorses five or more of these criteria over a period of 12 months is considered to be a disordered gamer. Griffiths (2005) has argued that while there are always some idiosyncratic differences between addictive behaviors, there are six common components that comprise both chemical and behavioral addictions (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, conflict and relapse). As has been noted previously (Griffiths, King, & Demetrovics, 2014), the nine IGD criteria correspond to the six components proposed in Griffiths' addiction model (2005). Support for the model comes from a number of studies that have developed and validated behavioral addiction scales and instruments using the six components for behaviors such as exercise addiction (Terry et al., 2004), shopping (Andreassen et al., 2015), gaming addiction (Lemmens et al., 2009), work addiction (Andreassen et al., 2012a), internet addiction (Kuss et al., 2014), and social networking addiction (Andreassen et al., 2012b). Disorder Test (IGD-20 Test), a 20-item scale designed to assess IGD.Psychometric analyses of the IGD-20 Test displayed good results in terms of both validity and reliability. In addition, the results obtained from the model showed an acceptable degree of fit with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), lending support to the test's factorial validity. More specifically, the test's criterion validity and concurrent validity were justified via the significant correlations existing between IGD-20 test results and (i) hours of weekly game play and (ii) the nine criteria for IGD in the DSM-5.
Assessment of problematic gamingThe assessment of problematic gaming has received extensive scholarly attention and has been subject to numerous debates due to the current unofficial status of this condition and the more general negative me...