Study addiction — A new area of psychological study: Conceptualization, assessment, and preliminary empirical findings

Abstract

AimsRecent research has suggested that for some individuals, educational studying may become compulsive and excessive and lead to ‘study addiction’. The present study conceptualized and assessed study addiction within the framework of workaholism, defining it as compulsive over-involvement in studying that interferes with functioning in other domains and that is detrimental for individuals and/or their environment.MethodsThe Bergen Study Addiction Scale (BStAS) was tested – reflecting seven core addiction symptoms (salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, relapse, and problems) – related to studying. The scale was administered via a cross-sectional survey distributed to Norwegian (n = 218) and Polish (n = 993) students with additional questions concerning demographic variables, study-related variables, health, and personality.ResultsA one-factor solution had acceptable fit with the data in both samples and the scale demonstrated good reliability. Scores on BStAS converged with scores on learning engagement. Study addiction (BStAS) was significantly related to specific aspects of studying (longer learning time, lower academic performance), personality traits (higher neuroticism and conscientiousness, lower extroversion), and negative health-related factors (impaired general health, decreased quality of life and sleep quality, higher perceived stress).ConclusionsIt is concluded that BStAS has good psychometric properties, making it a promising tool in the assessment of study addiction. Study addiction is related in predictable ways to personality and health variables, as predicted from contemporary workaholism theory and research.

Too many swipes for today: The development of the Problematic Tinder Use Scale (PTUS)

“…It is clear that – similarly to other recently investigated topics like buying (Rodríguez-Villarino, González-Lorenzo, Fernández-González, Lameiras-Fernández, & Foltz, 2006), dancing (Maráz, Urbán, Griffiths, & Demetrovics, 2015), or studying (Atroszko, Andreassen, Griffiths, & Pallesen, 2015) – problematic Tinder use does not affect a large part of the population (Global Web Index, 2015 cited by McHugh, 2015). It should also be considered that such problematic behaviors do not have the same addictive potential as other substance-related behaviors might have (Potenza, 2015).…”

Portuguese Validation of the Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale: an Empirical Study

“…Although the BFAS appears to be unidimensional, the instrument's six items tapped into different and well-established behavioral addiction criteria (i.e., salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse). In fact, the components model of addiction (Griffiths, 2005) has received empirical support for several behavioral addictions, such as exercise addiction (Terry, Szabo, & Griffiths, 2004), Internet Gaming Disorder (Pontes, Király, Demetrovics, & Griffiths, 2014), generalized IA (Kuss, Shorter, van Rooij, van de Mheen, & Griffiths, 2014), work addiction (Andreassen, Griffiths, Hetland, & Pallesen, 2012), shopping addiction , and even addiction to studying (i.e., a precursor to work addiction) (Atroszko, Andreassen, Griffiths, & Pallesen, 2015).…”

How can we conceptualize behavioural addiction without pathologizing common behaviours?

“…Some examples found in recent literature include (but are not limited to) “study addiction” (14), “work addiction” (15), “dancing addiction” (16), “mobile phone addiction” (17), “social network site addiction” (18), “fortune telling addiction” (19) and “body image addiction” (20). A positive addiction diagnosis or classification for these behaviors is particularly likely to be made when responses are captured through survey research using DSM-style polythetic cut-off scoring (e.g., meet 5/9 criteria for positive diagnosis), even though the symptoms in and of themselves are not indicative of functional impairment in community samples (9, 21).…”