Internet gaming disorder: a public health concern

Authors

  • Aruna Marati Savanthe Department of Community Medicine, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India
  • Cynthia Subhaprada Savolu Department of Community Medicine, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20193483

Keywords:

Internet gaming disorder, Medical undergraduates, Prevalence, Public health

Abstract

Background: Internet gaming disorder is the public health concern globally due to its detrimental effects on the youth to an extreme of provoking them to suicide. As we lack studies in India highlighting this issue we have taken up a study to assess internet gaming disorder among medical graduates and validate the Internet gaming disorder-20 (IGD-20) scale.

Methods: A cross-sectional study done on 200 first and second year medical students of Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool during February and March, 2019 using self-administered questionnaire containing IGD-20 which satisfies Griffith’s biopsychosocial component model and questions to assess socio behaviour changes. Data entered and analysed using SPSS version 23. Descriptive analysis, reliability tests, correlation and other appropriate significant tests used.

Results: Prevalence of internet gaming disorder was 10%, more in male and who spend more than 30 hours per week on gaming which was statistically significant. Internal consistency of the IGD-20 was 0.91 Cronbach’s alpha. Socio-behavioural changes like aggressiveness, irritability and change in food patterns were significantly associated with excessive disordered gaming habit.

Conclusions: Advanced technology as electronic gadgets, easily accessible networks are attracting the generation and making them addicted to it. Stress of the competitive world, loneliness is triggering this behaviour. Timely detection and management of the disordered gamers, scrutiny of parents on the internet gaming usage pattern of their kids, self-realisation and motivation towards physical games could help the youth to succumb the internet gaming disorder.

Author Biographies

Aruna Marati Savanthe, Department of Community Medicine, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India

Community Medicine, Assistant Professor

Cynthia Subhaprada Savolu, Department of Community Medicine, Kurnool Medical College, Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India

Associate Professor, Community Medicine

References

WHO. Public health implications of excessive use of the Internet and other communication and gaming platforms, 2018. Available at https://www.who.int/ substance_abuse/ activities/ addictive_ behaviours/en/ Accessed 8 April 2019.

WHO. Gaming disorder, 2018. Available at https://www.who.int/ features/qa/gaming-disorder /en/. Accessed 8 April 2019.

Hawi NS, Samaha M. To excel or not to excel: strong evidence on the adverse effect of smartphone addiction on academic performance. Comput Educ. 2016;98:81-9.

Linda AJ, Alexander VE, Edward AW, Yong Z, Hiram EF. A longitudinal study of the effects of Internet use and videogame playing on academic performance and the roles of gender, race and income in these relationships. Comp Hum Behav. 2011;27(1):228-39.

Gentile DA, Coyne S, Walsh DA. Media violence, physical aggression, and relational aggression in school age children: a short-term longitudinal study. Aggress Behav. 2011;37(2):193-206.

Gitter SA, Ewell PJ, Guadagno RE, Stillman TF, Baumeister RF. Virtually justifiable homicide: the effects of prosocial contexts on the link between violent video games, aggression, and pro social and hostile cognition. Aggress Behav. 2013;39(5):346-54.

Veenhof B. Wellman B, Quell C, Hogan B. How Canadians’ use of the Internet affects social life and civic participation. Connectedness series. ON: Science, Innovation and Electronic Information Division (SIEID). Ottawa, Statistics Canada: 2008.

DeLisi M, Vaughn MG, Gentile DA, Anderson CA, and Shook JJ. Violent video games, delinquency, and youth violence new evidence. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice. 2013;11(2):132-42.

Tortolero SR, Peskin MF, Baumler ER, Cuccaro PM, Elliott MN, Davies SL et al. Daily violent video game playing and depression in preadolescent youth. Cyberpsychol Behav Social Network. 2014;17(9):609-15.

Kim J, LaRose R, Peng W. Loneliness as the cause and the effect of problematic Internet use: the relationship between Internet use and psychological well-being. CyberPsychol Behavior 2009;12(4):451-5.

Page AS, Cooper AR, Griew P, Jago R. Children’s screen viewing is related to psychological difficulties irrespective of physical activity. Pediatr. 2010;126(5):1011-7.

Samaha M, Hawi NS. Relationships among smartphone addiction, stress, academic performance, and satisfaction with life. Comput Human Behav. 2016;57:321-5.

Griffiths MDA ‘components’ model of addiction within a biopsychosocial framework. J Substance Use. 2005;10(4):191-7.

Rehbein F, Psych G, Kleimann M, Mediasci G, Moble T. Prevalence and risk factors of video game dependency in adolescence: results of a German nationwide survey. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2010;13(3):269-77.

Lopez-Fernandez O, Honrubia-Serrano ML, Baguley T, Griffiths MD. Pathological video game playing in Spanish and British adolescents: Towards the exploration of Internet gaming disorder symptomatology. Comput Human Behav. 2014;41:304-12.

Pontes.HM, Griffith MD. Assessment of Internet Gaming Disorder in Clinical Research: Past and present perspectives. Clin Res Regul Aff. 2014;31(2-4):35-48.

Pontes HM, Kiraly O, Demetrovics Z, Griffiths MD. The conceptualisation and measurement of DSM-5 Internet gaming disorder: The development of the IGD-20 Test. PLoS One. 2014;9(10):e110137.

Fuster H, Carbonell X, Pontes HM, Griffiths MD. Spanish validation of the Internet Gaming Disorder-20 (IGD-20) Test. Comput Human Behav. 2016;56:215-24.

Hawai NS, Samaha M, Griffiths MD. Internet gaming disorder in Lebanon: Relationships with age, sleep habits, and academic achievement. J Behav Addict. 2018;7(1):70-8.

Faust KA, Prochaska JJ. Internet gaming disorder: A sign of the times or time for our attention. Addict Behav. 2018;77:272-4.

Hawi NS, Samaha M. Validation of the Arabic Version of the Internet Gaming Disorder-20 Test. Cyberpsychol Behav Soc Netw. 2017;20(4):268-72.

Lemmens, JS, Valkenburg, PM, Gentile DA, Reynolds CR. The internet gaming disorder scale. Psychol Assess. 2015;27(2):567-82.

Downloads

Published

2019-07-26

How to Cite

Savanthe, A. M., & Savolu, C. S. (2019). Internet gaming disorder: a public health concern. International Journal Of Community Medicine And Public Health, 6(8), 3532–3538. https://doi.org/10.18203/2394-6040.ijcmph20193483

Issue

Section

Original Research Articles