Journal of Behavioral Addictions最新文献

Background and aim: There is a lack of research on the stress-related transfer from goal-directed behavior to stimulus-response habits in (early stages of) online buying-shopping disorder (BSD). This study investigated the Pavlovian-to-instrumental transfer (PIT) effect after reward devaluation (PIT-dev) as indicator of habitual behavior and its modulation by acute stress in individuals with risky (online) buying-shopping (r-BSh).

Methods: Individuals with r-BSh (n = 67) and a control group (n = 67) underwent a PIT paradigm with devaluation procedure. A stress induction/control procedure was administered after the first part of the paradigm. Four salivary samples (alpha-amylase, sAA; cortisol, sCort) and subjective stress ratings were collected before/after stress induction.

Results: Individuals with r-BSh showed higher sAA levels (after stress induction), but comparable sCort and subjective stress levels to the control group. The devaluation reduced, albeit not abolished, shopping-specific instrumental behaviors in both groups, particularly in neutral trials. There were no interaction effects of stress condition, group and devaluation on shopping-specific response choice in the preregistered analysis. sCort response significantly predicted PIT-dev as indicator for habitual behavior. Exploratory analyses showed that interactions of BSD symptom severity with subjective and sCort stress response predicted PIT-dev.

Discussion and conclusions: The findings are mixed. They show some evidence for a stress-related shift to habitual shopping-specific behaviors in persons with higher symptom severity yet they do not match findings of other planned analyses. Further research is needed to clarify the role of stress in PIT effects and potentially habitual behaviors, which may have implications for prevention/early intervention.

Background and aims: The components model of addiction outlines six criteria shared by all addictive disorders. This proposal has been widely applied to conceptualize behavioral addictions, including problematic social media use (PSMU). However, certain criteria can be defined as "core" (e.g., mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict), reflecting problematic involvement, while others as "peripheral" (e.g., salience, tolerance), reflecting non-problematic involvement. We evaluated whether a two-factor model distinguishing between core and peripheral criteria provides a better fit than the unifactorial model in PSMU. Additionally, we examined whether core and peripheral criteria exhibit different patterns of association with psychological measures.

Methods: A total of 2,761 adolescents (M = 14.80 years, SD = 1.91 years) completed the Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale (BSMAS), the Social Media Disorder Scale (SMD), and measures of depression, anxiety, loneliness, life satisfaction, and self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analyses compared one-factor and two-factor models for the BSMAS and SMD. Associations were evaluated using structural equation models.

Results: A two-factor model that distinguished core (i.e., mood modification, relapse, withdrawal, conflict) and peripheral (i.e., salience, tolerance) criteria provided a better fit than the unifactorial model for both scales. Core criteria were positively associated with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and negatively associated with life satisfaction and self-esteem. Opposite patterns were observed for peripheral criteria: they were negatively associated with depression, anxiety, and loneliness, and positively associated with life satisfaction and self-esteem.

Discussion and conclusions: Our findings suggest that the components model of addiction may not be valid for assessing PSMU, promoting overdiagnosis and pathologization.

Background and aims: Problematic social media use (PSMU) is a concerning public health issue among adolescents. Existing literature has paid attention to the role of singular family risk on PSMU, but how cumulative family risks affect the trajectory of PSMU needs to be further explored.

Methods: The current study employed a five-wave longitudinal design that lasted for three years (each time interval: 6, 6, 12, and 12 months) to reveal the longitudinal mechanism between cumulative family risks and the trajectory of PSMU, examining the mediating roles of escape and relationship motivations. This study investigated 1,973 adolescents (Mage = 14.51, SDage = 1.49; age range: 11.95-17.45 years old; 47.4% females; 40% middle school) from southern China at wave 1, and the final sample size was 882 at wave 5.

Results: PSMU among Chinese adolescents presented with a stable tendency. In addition, cumulative family risks positively predicted the initial level (B = 0.21, SE = 0.02, p < 0.001) but not the slopes of PSMU. Moreover, escape motivation mediated the association between cumulative family risks and the trajectory of PSMU (Bintercept = 0.10, SE = 0.01, 95%CI = [0.076, 0.118]; Blinear slope = -0.03, SE = 0.01, 95%CI = [-0.040, -0.019]; Bquadratic slope = 0.004, SE = 0.001, 95%CI = [0.002, 0.006]).

Conclusions: Findings suggest that adolescents who experience cumulative family risks may be more likely to develop PSMU, potentially via the drive to escape from real life. A favorable family environment may be conducive to mitigating adolescent escape motivation and PSMU.

Objective: To assess associations between early childhood screen time trajectories and problematic media use scores by age 5.5.

Methods: The present study is based on a prospective, community-based convenience sample of 315 parents of preschoolers, from Canada studied at the ages of 3.5 (2020), 4.5 (2021), and 5.5 (2022) during the Covid-19 pandemic. Parent-reported screen use at the ages of 3.5, 4.5, and 5.5 was used to estimate preschooler screen use trajectories. Using latent growth modeling, we identified low (mean = 0.9 h/day, 23%), average (mean = 3.0 h/day, 56%), and high (mean = 6.38 h/day, 21%) screen time trajectories. Parents reported child problematic media using the Problematic Media Use Measure - Short Form (PMUM-SF).

Results: A multiple regression, adjusted for child sex, effortful control and parent education and stress revealed that compared to children in the low screen time trajectory, children in the high screen time trajectory had higher problematic media use scores at age 5.5 (β = 0.378, p < 0.001). In addition, children in the average screen time trajectory scored higher than children in the low screen time trajectory (β = 0.229, p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that higher screen use in early childhood is associated with an increased risk for the development of dysregulated media use, which can interfere with family functioning. As such, parents should be encouraged to follow screen time recommendations of ≤1 h/day for children between the ages of 2 and 5.

Background and aims: Gambling-related cognitive distortions (GRCD) sustain gambling behaviors despite adverse consequences. While previous studies have shown an association between GRCD and gambling disorder (GD) severity, few have conducted causal analyses. We aimed to examine temporal changes in GRCD among treatment-seeking patients and to investigate whether GRCD predicts subsequent gambling severity.

Methods: This one-year follow-up study was conducted in collaboration with 20 addiction-specialized medical institutions. The participants were 100 male patients diagnosed with GD (mean age: 37.2±8.5). We also examined the differences in GRCD improvement based on gambling relapse after treatment initiation. GRCD were assessed using the Gambling-Related Cognitions Scale (GRCS), and gambling severity was measured using the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI). Gambling engaement was assessed using a self-report questionnaire. Temporal changes were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA, and the causal relationship between the GRCD and the PGSI was examined using a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM).

Results: Overall, GRCD significantly decreased within 6 months of treatment initiation and then stabilized. The abstinence group had significantly lower GRCD scores than the non-abstinence group at all the timepoints. CLPM identified Perceived Inability to Stop Gambling (IS) as the only GRCD subscale that significantly predicted PGSI scores at 12 months.

Discussion: This study demonstrates that GRCD predict the severity of subsequent gambling disorders. In particular, IS has been identified as a critical target for interventions.

Conclusions: These findings provide valuable evidence of a causal relationship between GRCD and gambling severity and underscore the importance of targeting IS in treatment.

Background and aims: Problematic Smartphone Use (PSU) has become a major public health issue, with stress identified as a key factor. Pathological technology use is often linked to dysfunctional reward processing, which is characterized by hyperactivity during reward anticipation and hypoactivity during reward receipt, both closely tied to emotion regulation. This study aimed to investigate the association between PSU and event-related potentials (ERP) linked to reward anticipation and feedback processing, while elucidating the role of reward processing dysfunction in the escalation of daily life stress into PSU through ecological momentary assessment.

Methods: We recorded the ERPs of 44 PSU participants and 50 HC participants during the monetary incentive delay task. Meanwhile, we assessed the momentary stress, PSU levels, and screen time of these participants three times a day for 14 days.

Results: ERP results showed that the PSU group, compared to the HC group, had significantly larger P3 amplitude (but not N2 amplitude) during reward anticipation (cue-P3: η2 = 0.066, p = 0.012; cue-N2: η2 = 0.004, p = 0.567). In contrast, during feedback, their amplitudes were reduced in both RewP and fb-P3 components (RewP: η2 = 0.092, p = 0.003; fb-P3: η2 = 0.043, p = 0.048). These findings indicate that PSU is linked to heightened neural activity during reward anticipation but reduced responsiveness during feedback, indicating potential dysfunction in reward processing. Ecological momentary assessment linked momentary stress to increased PSU (β = 0.17, HPD 95% CI [0.129, 0.218]) and screen time (β = 0.18, HPD 95% CI [0.135, 0.227]). Importantly, RewP amplitude moderated these associations, with blunted RewP responses amplifying stress-related increases in both PSU (β = -0.19, HPD 95% CI [-0.352, -0.036]) and screen time (β = -0.20, HPD 95% CI [-0.394, -0.003]).

Conclusion: These findings indicate that reward-related ERPs may serve as potential neural markers for identifying PSU, while dysfunctional reward processing may exacerbate stress-related PSU behaviors. This work provides novel insights for developing prevention and intervention strategies in digital addiction.

Background: Growing concerns regarding problematic gaming highlight the need for prospective longitudinal research to explore potential targets for prevention. Markers that can be observed during early adolescence, prior to the establishment of problematic behaviors, may be particularly informative. Two potential predictors of interest that have been shown to reflect important developmental and psychopathological processes are temperament and brain structure, which respectively provide self-reported and objective markers of individual differences.

Methods: Temperament (n = 245) and brain volume (n = 154) were assessed at 11-13 years, and problematic video gaming (dimensional gaming addiction score; n = 130) at 17-19 years, in adolescents selected from a community sample to maximize variation in temperament. Associations between temperament and problematic video gaming were tested. Further models explored whether brain volume, and interactions between brain volume and temperament explained additional variance in predicting problematic video gaming.

Results: Negative affectivity (b = 2.94 [95% CI 0.32, 5.57]), as well as male gender (b = -6.61 [-10.64, -2.59]), were associated with later problematic video gaming. Also, lower effortful control in male participants was associated with higher odds for problematic video gaming in later adolescence (b = 4.32 [CI 0.24, 8.39]). Exploratory analyses showed modest evidence for an interaction between effortful control and amygdala volume in predicting problematic video gaming.

Conclusions: This six-year prospective longitudinal study, confirms associations between negative affectivity and effortful control and later problematic video gaming. Further, higher effortful control might have a protective role in individuals with larger amygdalae, who are vulnerable to mental health disorders, such as video gaming addiction.

Background and aims: Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) with addictive features is prevalent among adolescents and linked to various detrimental outcomes. However, little is known about the heterogeneity of these features and the factors influencing their progression. This study examined profiles and transitions of NSSI addictive features (NSSI-AF) in adolescents and the role of maladaptive cognitive schemas in profile memberships and transitions.

Methods: This longitudinal study involved 2,951 adolescents (42.9% female; Mage = 13.79; SD = 0.73) assessed at two time points over a nine-month interval. Questionnaires assessed NSSI-AF and maladaptive schemas. Latent profile analysis identified profiles at each time point, while latent transition analysis examined profile transitions. Logistic regression assessed associations between maladaptive schemas and profile memberships and transitions.

Results: Three profiles emerged: no, low, and high NSSI-AF. The no profile exhibited high stability, with 98% remaining in this group. The low profile was the least stable, with only 22% remaining, 67% transitioning to the no profile, and 11% shifting to the high profile. The high profile showed moderate stability, with 36% remaining at high risk. Adolescents with elevated maladaptive schemas, especially in the disconnection & rejection and impaired autonomy & performance domains, were more likely to belong to or transition into at-risk profiles.

Discussion and conclusions: Findings reveal distinct profiles and transition patterns in NSSI-AF and suggest that maladaptive schemas-particularly disconnection & rejection and impaired autonomy & performance-serve as important predictors. These insights may inform the development of schema-focused interventions tailored to the unique characteristics and risks within each profile.

Background: Research has demonstrated that childhood maltreatment is a significant predictor of problematic internet game use in adolescents. However, the underlying mechanisms of this relation, particularly the mediating processes and gene-environment interactions (G × E), remain insufficiently understood. This study employed a multi-informant, longitudinal design within a G × E framework to examine the mediating role of internalizing symptoms in the relation between childhood maltreatment and problematic internet game use. Additionally, it investigated whether FKBP5 gene variation moderates these associations.

Methods: A total of 1,592 third- to fifth-grade students (42.2% girls; Mage = 10.42 years, SD = 0.94) and their parents participated in a three-wave study conducted at six-month intervals.

Results: Findings indicated that both emotional abuse and neglect each significantly predicted problematic internet game use, with internalizing symptoms mediating both relations. Moreover, higher FKBP5-related cumulative genetic scores amplified the impact of emotional abuse on internalizing symptoms, which, in turn, exacerbated problematic internet game use.

Conclusion: The results underscore the importance of considering both genetic and environmental factors in understanding the development of problematic internet game use. Interventions should focus on mitigating the emotional consequences of childhood maltreatment and accommodating genetic predispositions to stress, thereby providing a more comprehensive approach to preventing and treating problematic internet game use in adolescents.

Background and aims: Wagering direct marketing is prolific, but no research has examined its relationship with gambling harm, nor the effects of direct marketing from wagering affiliates and tipsters. This study aimed to 1) examine the extent to which frequent bettors receive more direct promotional messages from wagering operators, free betting information services, and paid tipsters, and 2) assess longitudinal associations between message exposure and the number of bets placed, amount spent on betting, and short-term betting-related harm.

Methods: An ecological momentary assessment administered seven surveys over two weeks to collect repeated measurements of exposure to direct messages and number of bets placed, betting expenditure and short-term betting harm. Linear mixed effects regression models analysed 4,020 observations from 814 Australian participants who bet at-least fortnightly on sports or races.

Results: Over the two weeks, participants using each type of service received on average 12.7 messages from wagering operators, 11.8 from free services and 21.7 from tipsters. Number of bets, expenditure and harm all increased with each additional message from wagering operators. Betting consumption and harm also increased with each message received through a digital channel from free services and tipsters. Receiving messages through emails, texts and app notifications from any source was accompanied by increased expenditure and harm. Messages from wagering operators were particularly potent for higher-risk bettors.

Discussion and conclusions: Direct messages can immediately stimulate betting, expenditure, and gambling-related harm, justifying further restrictions. Many frequent bettors use affiliate betting services that currently have little regulatory oversight or consumer protections.