Investigating Risk Factors for Internet Gaming Disorder: A Comparison of Patients with Addictive Gaming, Pathological Gamblers and Healthy Controls regarding the Big Five Personality Traits (original) (raw)

Skip Nav Destination

Article navigation

Issue Cover

Research Articles| November 16 2013

K.W. Müller;

aOutpatient Clinic for Behavioural Addictions, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and

Search for other works by this author on:

M.E. Beutel;

aOutpatient Clinic for Behavioural Addictions, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and

Search for other works by this author on:

B. Egloff;

bDivision of Personality and Psychological Assessment, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany

Search for other works by this author on:

K. Wölfling

aOutpatient Clinic for Behavioural Addictions, Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and

Search for other works by this author on:

Eur Addict Res (2014) 20 (3): 129–136.

Article history

Accepted:

September 10 2013

Published Online:

November 16 2013

Content Tools

Abstract

Engaging in online games has become increasingly important as a part of leisure activity in adolescents and adults. While the majority of people use these games in a healthy way, epidemiological studies show that some develop excessive use and symptoms that are related to those of substance-related addictions. Despite increasing research concerning the epidemiology of internet gaming disorder (IGD), predisposing factors have been examined to a lesser extent. Knowing about specific risk factors would help clarify the nosological features of IGD and enhance prevention and intervention. This study aimed to evaluate the relationships between personality traits and IGD. A total of 115 patients meeting the criteria for IGD were compared to 167 control subjects displaying either regular or intense use of online games. Additionally, 115 patients meeting diagnostic criteria for pathological gambling were included. IGD was associated with higher neuroticism, decreased conscientiousness and low extraversion. The comparisons to pathological gamblers indicate that low conscientiousness and low extraversion in particular are characteristic of IGD. An integration of personality variables into an etiopathological model describing presumable mechanisms fostering and maintaining addictive online gaming is proposed. This model could be helpful for the theoretical understanding of addictive gaming, public health campaigns and psychoeducation within therapeutic settings.

References

Wilms IL, Petersen A, Vangkilde S: Intensive video gaming improves encoding speed to visual short-term memory in young male adults. Acta Psychol 2013;142:108-118.

Young KS: Internet addiction: the emergence of a new clinical disorder. Cyberpsychol Behav 1998;1:237-244.

Morrison CM, Gore H: The relationship between excessive internet use and depression: a questionnaire-based study of 1,319 young people and adults. Psychopathology 2010;43:121-126.

Stetina BU, Kothgassner OD, Lehenbauer M, Kryspin-Exner I: Beyond the fascination of online-games: probing addictive behavior and depression in the world of online-gaming. Comput Human Behav 2011;27:473-479.

Batthyány D, Müller KW, Benker F, Wölfling K: Computer game playing: clinical characteristics of dependence and abuse among adolescents. Wien Klin Wochenschr 2009;121:502-509.

Van Rooij AJ, Schoenmakers TM, Vermulst AA, Van Den Eijnden RJJ, Van De Mheen D: Online video game addiction: identification of addicted adolescent gamers. Addiction 2011;106:205-212.

Festl R, Scharkow M, Quandt T: Problematic computer game use among adolescents, younger and older adults. Addiction 2013;108:592-599.

Gentile DA, Choo H, Liau A, Sim T, Li D, Fung D, Khoo A: Pathological video game use among youths: a two-year longitudinal study. Pediatrics 2011;127:318-330.

Ko C-H, Liu G-C, Yen J-Y, Chen C-Y, Yen C-F, Chen C-S: Brain correlates of craving for online gaming under cue exposure in subjects with internet gaming addiction and in remitted subjects. Addict Biol 2013;18:559-569.

Thalemann R, Wölfling K, Grüsser SM: Specific cue reactivity on computer game-related cues in excessive gamers. Behav Neurosci 2007;121:614-618.

McCrae RR, Costa PT Jr: Personality trait structure as a human universal. Am Psychol 1997;52:509-516.

Block J: A contrarian view of the five-factor approach to personality description. Psychol Bull 1995;117:187-215.

McCrae RR: Five years of progress: a reply to Block. J Res Pers 2001;35:108-113.

Brickman AL, Yount SE, Blaney NT, Rothberg ST, De-Nour AK: Personality traits and long-term health status. The influence of neuroticism and conscientiousness on renal deterioration in type-I diabetes. Psychosomatics 1996;37:459-468.

Farmer A, Redman K, Harris T, Mahmood A, Sadler S, Pickering A, McGuffin P: Neuroticism, extraversion, life events and depression. The Cardiff Depression Study. Br J Psychiatry 2002;181:118-122.

Christensen AJ, Ehlers SL, Wiebe JS, Moran PJ, Raichle K, Ferneyhough K, Lawton WJ: Patient personality and mortality: a 4-year prospective examination of chronic renal insufficiency. Health Psychol 2002;21:315-320.

Paunonen SV: Big Five factors of personality and replicated predictions of behavior. J Pers Soc Psychol 2003;84:411-424.

Soldz S, Vaillant GE: The Big Five personality traits and the life course: a 45-year longitudinal study. J Res Pers 1999;33:208-232.

Kotov R, Gamez W, Schmidt F, Watson D: Linking ‘big' personality traits to anxiety, depressive, and substance use disorders: a meta-analysis. Psychol Bull 2010;136:768.

Gilbert DG: Smoking: Individual Differences, Psychopathology and Emotion. Washington, Taylor & Francis, 1995.

Terracciano A, Costa PT Jr: Smoking and the Five-Factor Model of personality. Addiction 2004;99:472-481.

Kubicka L, Matejcek Z, Dytrych Z, Roth Z: IQ and personality traits assessed in childhood as predictors of drinking and smoking behaviour in middle-aged adults: a 24-year follow-up study. Addiction 2001;96:1615-1628.

Bagby MR, Vachon DD, Bulmash EL, Toneatto T, Quilty LC, Costa PT: Pathological gambling and the five-factor model of personality. Pers Indiv Differ 2007;43:873-880.

MacLaren VV, Fugelsang JA, Harrigan KA, Dixon MJ: The personality of pathological gamblers: a meta-analysis. Clin Psychol Rev 2011;31:1057-1067.

Miller JD, MacKillop J, Fortune EE, Maples J, Lance CE, Campbell WK, Goodie AS: Personality correlates of pathological gambling derived from Big Three and Big Five personality models. Psychiatry Res 2013;206:50-55.

Cao F, Su L: Internet addiction among Chinese adolescents: prevalence and psychological features. Child Care Health Dev 2006;33:275-281.

Yang SC, Tung C-J: Comparison of Internet addicts and non-addicts in Taiwanese high school. Comput Human Behav 2007;23:79-96.

Ko C-H, Yen J-Y, Chen C-C, Chen SH, Wu KW, Yen C-F: Tridimensional personality of adolescents with internet addiction and substance use experience. Can J Psychiatry 2006;51:887-894.

Montag C, Jurkiewicz M, Reuter M: Low self-directedness is a better predictor for problematic internet use than high neuroticism. Comput Human Behav 2010;26:1531-1535.

Kuss DJ, Griffiths MD, Binder JF: Internet addiction in students: prevalence and risk factors. Comput Human Behav 2013;29:959-966.

Lemmens JS, Valkenburg PM, Peter J: Psychosocial causes and consequences of pathological gaming. Comput Human Behav 2011;27:144-152.

Müller KW, Wölfling K, Dreier M: Risks of developing internet addictive behaviors: scope and extent of internet sites used; in Tsitsika A, Critselis E, Janikian M (eds): Internet Addictive Behaviors in European Adolescents, in press.

Caplan SE: Problematic Internet use and psychosocial well-being: development of a theory based cognitive behavioral measurement instrument. Comput Human Behav 2002;18:553-575.

Kim H-K, Davies KE: Toward a comprehensive theory of problematic internet use: evaluating the role of self-esteem, anxiety, flow, and the self-related importance of internet activities. Comput Human Behav 2009;25:490-500.

Roy A, De Jong J, Linnoila M: Extraversion in pathological gamblers. Correlates with indexes of noradrenergic function. Arch Gen Psychiatry 1989;46:679-681.

Wölfling K, Müller KW, Beutel ME: Reliability and validity of the Scale for the Assessment of Pathological Computer-Gaming (CSV-S) (in German). Psychother Psychosom Med Psychol 2011;61:216-224.

Lo S, Wang C, Fang W: Physical interpersonal relationships and social anxiety among online game players. Cyberpsychol Behav 2005;8:15-20.

Myrseth H, Pallesen S, Molde H, Johnsen BH, Lorvik IM: Personality factors as predictors of pathological gambling. Pers Indiv Differ 2009;47:933-937.

Jiang W, Du Y: The relationship between Internet overuse in middle school students in Shanghai and time management disposition. Shanghai Arch Psychiatry 2006;18:129-133.

Kim EJ, Namkoong K, Ku T, Kim SJ: The relationship between online game addiction and aggression, self-control and narcissistic personality traits. Eur Psychiatry 2008;23:212-218.

McGue M, Bacon S, Lykken DT: Personality stability and change in early adulthood: a behavioral genetic analysis. Dev Psychol 1993;29:96-109.

Roberts BW, Caspi A, Moffitt TE: The kids are alright: growth and stability in personality development from adolescence to adulthood. J Pers Soc Psychol 2001;81:670-683.

Wölfling K, Beutel ME, Müller KW: Construction of a standardized clinical interview to assess internet addiction: first findings regarding the usefulness of AICA-C. J Addict Res Ther 2012;S6:003.

Grüsser S, Hesselbarth U, Albrecht U, Mörsen C: Berliner Inventar zur Glücksspielsucht - Screener (Berlin Inventory for Gambling), 2006.

Blaszczynski A, Nower A: A pathways model of problem and pathological gambling. Addiction 2002;97:487-499.

Costa PT Jr, McCrae RR: Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI): Professional Manual. Odessa, Psychological Assessment Resources, 1992.

Borkenau P, Ostendorf F: A questionnaire for assessing five robust personality factors. Diagnostica 1991;37:29-41.

Murray G, Rawlings D, Allen NB, Trinder J: NEO Five-Factor Inventory Scores: Psychometric Properties in a Community Sample. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development 2003.

Goodwin RD, Friedman HS: Health status and the five-factor personality traits in a nationally representative sample. J Health Psychol 2006;11:643-654.

Walther B, Morgenstern M, Hanewinkel R: Co-occurrence of addictive behaviours: personality factors related to substance use, gambling and computer gaming. Eur Addict Res 2012;18:167-174.

Ackerman PL, Heggestad ED: Intelligence, personality, and interests: evidence for overlapping traits. Psychol Bull 1997;121:219-245.

Beranuy M, Oberst U, Carbonell X, Chamarro A: Problematic Internet and mobile phone use and clinical symptoms in college students: the role of emotional intelligence. Comput Human Behav 2009;25:1182-1187.

Parker JDA, Taylor RN, Eastabrook JM, Schell SL, Wood LM: Problem gambling in adolescence: relationships with Internet misuse, gaming abuse and emotional intelligence. Pers Indiv Differ 2008;45:174-180.

Specht J, Egloff B, Schmukle SC: Stability and change of personality across the life course: the impact of age and major life events on mean-level and rank-order stability of the Big Five. J Pers Soc Psychol 2011;101:862-882.

Hicks BM, Durbin CE, Blonigen DM, Iacono WG, McGue M: Relationship between personality change and the onset and course of alcohol dependence in young adulthood. Addiction 2011;107:540-548.

Mowen JC, Harris EG, Bone SA: Personality traits and fear response to print advertisements: theory and an empirical study. Psychol Market 2004;21:927-943.

Myers SD, Sen S, Alexandrov A: The moderating effect of personality traits on attitudes toward advertisements: a contingency framework. Management and Marketing 2010;5:3-20.

Potenza MN: Should addictive disorders include non‐substance‐related conditions? Addiction 2006;101:142-151.

Frascella J, Potenza MN, Brown LL, Childress AR: Shared brain vulnerabilities open the way for nonsubstance addictions: carving addiction at a new joint? Ann NY Acad Sci 2010;1187:294-315.

Crockford DN, Goodyear B, Edwards J, Quickfall J, el-Guebaly N: Cue-induced brain activity in pathological gamblers. Biol Psychiatry 2005;58:787-795.

© 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel

2013

Copyright / Drug Dosage / Disclaimer

Copyright: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated into other languages, reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, microcopying, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Drug Dosage: The authors and the publisher have exerted every effort to ensure that drug selection and dosage set forth in this text are in accord with current recommendations and practice at the time of publication. However, in view of ongoing research, changes in government regulations, and the constant flow of information relating to drug therapy and drug reactions, the reader is urged to check the package insert for each drug for any changes in indications and dosage and for added warnings and precautions. This is particularly important when the recommended agent is a new and/or infrequently employed drug.

Disclaimer: The statements, opinions and data contained in this publication are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publishers and the editor(s). The appearance of advertisements or/and product references in the publication is not a warranty, endorsement, or approval of the products or services advertised or of their effectiveness, quality or safety. The publisher and the editor(s) disclaim responsibility for any injury to persons or property resulting from any ideas, methods, instructions or products referred to in the content or advertisements.

You do not currently have access to this content.

Sign in

Digital Version

Pay-Per-View Access

$39.00

1 Karger Article Bundle Token

$150

Rental

This article is also available for rental through DeepDyve.