Computer game addiction rate

Pearson product—moment correlation coefficients were calculated in order to investigate the interrelationship between the predictor variables in the study. Gender, age, place of birth, marital status, education level and employment status were entered in step one, personality was included in step two, and psychosomatic health were entered in step three.

The prerequisites for conducting this type of analysis were fulfilled. The percentage of males reporting playing video games the last 6 months were The prevalence estimate for video game addiction was 1. Prevalence weighted rates for the different groups of gamers in a population of gamers and in the population as a whole. The prevalence estimate for video game addiction was 0. Prevalence weighted rates for the different groups of gamers in a population of gamers and in the population as a whole, after Lemmens original scoring.

In both the crude and adjusted analyses, being addicted-, problem- or engaged gamer was significantly and negatively associated with gender, indicating that male respondents were more likely than female respondents to belong to all of these categories. Being 31—50 years old was significantly and negatively associated with being an addicted- or problem gamer compared to the contrast group 16—30 years in both the crude and adjusted analysis.

Being 51—80 years was negatively associated with being an addicted gamer, problem gamer or an engaged gamer compared to the contrast group in the crude analysis.

The effect was still significant when adjusting for personality traits, but the association with being an engaged gamer did not remain significant when adjusting for psychosomatic health. Being born in Africa, Asia, South- or Middle America was positively and significantly related to being an addicted- or problem gamer in both the crude and adjusted analysis. In the crude analysis, a high score on extraversion was significantly and negatively associated with being an addicted- or engaged gamer compared to those having a low score.

In the adjusted analysis, none of the associations remained significant. In the crude analysis, agreeableness was significantly and negatively associated with being an addicted-, problem-, or engaged gamer. In the adjusted analysis only, the negative association with being a problem gamer remained. For conscientiousness there was a significant and negative association with being an addicted-, problem- or engaged gamer both in the crude- and adjusted analyses.

In the crude analysis, neuroticism was positively and significantly associated with being an addicted-, problem- or engaged gamer. However, in the adjusted model, the association with being an engaged gamer did not remain significant. Having a low score on the psychosomatic health scale was negatively associated with being an addicted-, problem- or engaged gamer in the crude analysis.

In the adjusted model, the association with being an addicted gamer did not remain significant. Furthermore, the model as a whole explained between Using the whole sample, and applying the original scoring of GASA, both the prevalence of addicted gamers 0. Furthermore, the prevalence of addicted gamers was lower than what has been found worldwide 6.

This could indicate that the prevalence of video game addiction is lower in Norway than worldwide, or it might reflect that the literature review by Ferguson et al. In comparison, when using the sample of active video gamers and the interference approach, the prevalence numbers were higher for all groups of gamers: addicted 1. However, the prevalence of addicted gamers was lower than what has been found worldwide Ferguson et al. Furthermore, when comparing these results with Brunborg et al.

Thus, this latter finding supports the interpretation that the prevalence rates reported by Ferguson et al. The results of the present study are in line with previous research stating that males report more problems with gaming than females Brunborg et al.

Males were in the present study were 2. Furthermore, there were no noteworthy changes when including personality traits and psychosomatic health in the analysis. This suggests that gender is independent of these variables. The results further support research suggesting that being single is positively associated with excessive video game use Wenzel et al.

Respondents in the youngest age group were more likely to belong to the addicted group than the middle age 2. Moreover, respondents in the youngest age group were more likely to belong to the group of problem gamers than the oldest age group 4.

However, it should be noted that gaming is a relatively new phenomenon hence cohort-effects may be at play. As the younger video gaming generation grows up, gaming will probably be more uniformly distributed across age groups. The present authors have not been able to identify previous research investigating video game addiction among immigrants.

Previous findings are mixed as to whether immigrants are in the risk group for mental health problems in general e. However, previous research has found that there is a higher prevalence of problematic video gaming in East Asian populations, as compared to Western European, North American and Australian populations King et al. Video game addiction was independent of level of education, and is in accordance with previous research Rehbein et al.

However, the results of the present study suggest that problem- and engaged gamers have a lower degree of education. One could speculate that gamers with higher level of education would put more time and effort into their careers than gamers with a low education, and therefore spend less time gaming.

A confounding variable in relation to this association might be young age, since the group of respondents with the lowest level of education will consist of both adults that have completed their degree of education and adolescents that are still studying.

Such interpretation is partly supported by the results, where a moderate correlation between age and level of education was found. Previous studies have found an association between unemployment and problematic video game and internet use Elliot et al. As people who are high on neuroticism can experience more anxiety and depression Costa and McCrae , they might use video game playing as an escape for their problems. Furthermore, being high on neuroticism is has been shown to be related to impulsiveness Costa and McCrae , that might make it easier to discard other activities in favor of playing video games.

The results of the present study showed that respondents who scored high on conscientiousness were three times less likely to belong to the group of addicted gamers, and that conscientiousness was negatively associated with addicted-, problem-, or engaged gamers. A possible reason for this might be that people who score high on conscientiousness typically are dutiful and self-disciplined Costa and McCrae , traits that can be said to be incompatible with heavy video game playing.

In contrast to Peters and Malesky , no significant relationship was found between extraversion or agreeableness and video game addiction. Because Peters and Malesky used a sample of gamers from a specific online game i. World of Warcraft , the connection between video game addiction and extraversion or agreeableness may only be true for people who play this game, or similar types of games.

Unlike previous studies Rehbein et al. However, an association between having a low score on psychosomatic health and being in the group of problem gamers or in the group of engaged gamers was found. The results indicate that the high scoring group on psychosomatic symptoms is three times more likely to belong to the group of problem gamers than the low scoring group. The reason why the results of the present study differ from previous findings might differences in the assessment of psychosomatic health.

For instance, Brunborg et al. In addition, the fact that the current study controlled for several demographic variables and personality factors might further explain why different results were found. The results support a distinction between different groups of gamers as the personality traits investigated show different associations within different groups of gamers.

For example, the trait of neuroticism is only significant for addicted gamers and problem gamers, but not for engaged gamers. By using a sample randomly selected from the national population registry, the results can be generalized across the video gaming population. There is a need for further population-based studies given the lack of such studies to date Wenzel et al.

Furthermore, most previous research has been conducted on adolescents and teenagers Williams et al. The current study also obtained different prevalence rates by using different scoring methods. In this way, the study offers an opportunity to compare different prevalence numbers from previous studies.

One shortcoming of the present study is that it did not differentiate between different types of games. Studies have shown that characteristics of games can be of importance in the development of video game addiction King et al. Several studies using specific games such as Everquest Williams et al.

More research is needed to clarify whether playing specific types of games is typical for gamers belonging to the four different groups of gamers.

The results concerning place of birth could also have been different if more detailed response alternatives than continent had been used. The study also lacked a measure of how much respondents play.

Due to cross-sectional design the present study is further limited, and we are precluded from drawing inferences causal relations between the variables. Further longitudinal studies are needed in order to conclude about directionality between variables. The study also suffers from the many biases known that utilize self-report data e. The present study showed the prevalence of addicted gamers to be 1.

The results identified the following factors to be associated with video game addiction: being of male gender, being young in age, living alone, being born in Africa, Asia, South America or Central America, scoring low on conscientiousness, scoring high on neuroticism, and having poor psychosomatic health.

These factors provide insight into the field of video game addiction, and may help to provide guidance as to how one can identify people that are in risk of becoming addicted gamers.

National Center for Biotechnology Information , U. International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. Int J Ment Health Addict. Published online Sep Griffiths , 4 and Helge Molde 1. Mark D. Author information Copyright and License information Disclaimer. Helge Molde, Phone: 55 58 86 82, Email: on. Corresponding author. This article has been cited by other articles in PMC. Abstract Video gaming has become a popular leisure activity in many parts of the world, and an increasing number of empirical studies examine the small minority that appears to develop problems as a result of excessive gaming.

Keywords: Video game addiction, Prevalence, Personality traits, Psychosomatic health, Demographic variables. Procedure The study was based at the University of Bergen and carried out on behalf of the Norwegian Gambling and Foundation Authority during the autumn of Statistics Descriptive statistics of nominal variables were calculated in terms of distribution.

Open in a separate window. Table 2 Prevalence weighted rates for the different groups of gamers in a population of gamers and in the population as a whole. Table 3 Prevalence weighted rates for the different groups of gamers in a population of gamers and in the population as a whole, after Lemmens original scoring. Gender a 1 0. Age group b 1 0. Level of education e 1 0. Employment status f 1 0. Extraversion 1 0. Agreeableness 1 0. Conscientiousness 1 0.

Psychosomatic health 1. Discussion Using the whole sample, and applying the original scoring of GASA, both the prevalence of addicted gamers 0. Conclusions The present study showed the prevalence of addicted gamers to be 1.

Prevalence of mental illness in immigrant and non-immigrant U. Latino groups. American Journal of Psychiatry. The relationships between behavioral addictions and the five-factor model of personality. Journal of Behavioral Addictions. Migration and mental illness. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment. Gaming addiction, gaming engagement, and psychological health complaints among Norwegian adolescents. Media Psychology. Video game addiction is a real problem that affects millions of gamers over the world.

However, there are very few resources on it. Most psychiatrists who treat video game addiction are over the age of 55 and have never played a video game in their life. Therefore, the current models of mental health do not understand how to treat video game addiction. If you or someone you know is suffering from video game addiction, we designed this quiz to help you find a tailored strategy that can help you overcome it:. Statistics show that more than 2 billion people play video games globally, million in the United States.

Several Asian countries struggle with video game addiction and IGD in their populations. A study conducted in Hong Kong in revealed that, on average, South Korea declared gaming disorder a public health crisis since more than , children struggle with it. Alok Kanojia, the world expert in video game addiction psychiatry. Alok Kanojia explains the geographical breakdown of video game addiction in this video:.

Statistics indicate that most populations in the world are likely to struggle with video game addiction. According to another set of statistics, young adult males between the ages of are at high risk of video game addiction. According to a different German study, 3. Overall, video game addiction statistics are vague due to the different methodologies adopted in studies and surveys. Studies of larger populations are required to collect higher quality data to create more accurate statistics.