Validity and Psychometric Properties of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale in Three Large Independent Samples of Children and Adolescents

TY - JOUR

T1 - Validity and Psychometric Properties of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale in Three Large Independent Samples of Children and Adolescents

AU - Paschke, Kerstin

AU - Sack, Peter-Michael

AU - Thomasius, Rainer

PY - 2021/1/26

Y1 - 2021/1/26

N2 - BACKGROUND: Problematic gaming has become a major health issue in children and adolescents resulting in the need for targeted valid and reliable screening instruments. This study aimed to explore the psychometric properties and criterion validity of the widely used 9-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS) in young gamers.METHODS: Three independent samples were drawn from socio-demographically representative cross-sectional telephone surveys collected in the years 2016 (N = 762), 2017 (N = 777), and 2018 (N = 784) and analyzed separately.RESULTS: The IGDS revealed psychometric properties suitable for screening in large samples. Cronbach's alpha was 0.563, 0.724, and 0.778. The unidimensionality assumption was challenged. At-risk and pathological gamers compared to normal gamers reported longer digital media use and more emotional symptoms and hyperactivity/inattention with clinical relevance to medium effect sizes. The comparison of at-risk and pathological gamers indicated a partial distinction between the two problematic gaming groups.CONCLUSIONS: The IGDS could be shown to be an overall suitable and valid tool to identify pathological gamers in childhood and adolescence according to the DSM-5 criteria on a population level. However, the polythetic structure limits comparability with the recent ICD-11 criteria. At-risk gamers appeared as a heterogeneous group warranting more research.

AB - BACKGROUND: Problematic gaming has become a major health issue in children and adolescents resulting in the need for targeted valid and reliable screening instruments. This study aimed to explore the psychometric properties and criterion validity of the widely used 9-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS) in young gamers.METHODS: Three independent samples were drawn from socio-demographically representative cross-sectional telephone surveys collected in the years 2016 (N = 762), 2017 (N = 777), and 2018 (N = 784) and analyzed separately.RESULTS: The IGDS revealed psychometric properties suitable for screening in large samples. Cronbach's alpha was 0.563, 0.724, and 0.778. The unidimensionality assumption was challenged. At-risk and pathological gamers compared to normal gamers reported longer digital media use and more emotional symptoms and hyperactivity/inattention with clinical relevance to medium effect sizes. The comparison of at-risk and pathological gamers indicated a partial distinction between the two problematic gaming groups.CONCLUSIONS: The IGDS could be shown to be an overall suitable and valid tool to identify pathological gamers in childhood and adolescence according to the DSM-5 criteria on a population level. However, the polythetic structure limits comparability with the recent ICD-11 criteria. At-risk gamers appeared as a heterogeneous group warranting more research.

KW - Adolescent

KW - Behavior, Addictive/diagnosis

KW - Child

KW - Cross-Sectional Studies

KW - Factor Analysis, Statistical

KW - Humans

KW - Internet

KW - Internet Addiction Disorder

KW - Psychometrics

KW - Reproducibility of Results

KW - Video Games

U2 - 10.3390/ijerph18031095

DO - 10.3390/ijerph18031095

M3 - SCORING: Journal article

C2 - 33530635

VL - 18

JO - INT J ENV RES PUB HE

JF - INT J ENV RES PUB HE

SN - 1660-4601

IS - 3

M1 - 1095

ER -