Journal of Behavioral Addictions最新文献

Background and aims: To analyze the bidirectional associations between smartphone multitasking and anxiety symptoms among college students.

Methods: A prospective cohort study was conducted from October 2021 to May 2022. Smartphone multitasking and anxiety symptoms were assessed using the Assessment of Smartphone Multitasking for Adolescents and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 items, respectively. Linear regression models were used to analyze the associations between smartphone multitasking and anxiety symptoms among college students. Autoregressive cross⁃lagged models (ARCLM) were used to analyze the bidirectional associations between smartphone multitasking and anxiety symptoms among college students.

Results: A total of 953 college students were included in this study, 323 (33.9%) of whom were males. The mean age of participants at baseline was 18.89 ± 1.33 years. The rates of depressive symptoms among college students were 28.1% at baseline and 29.0% at 6-month follow-up, respectively. Pearson correlation analysis showed significant positive correlations between all zero-level variables (p < 0.01). Linear regression analyses showed that after adjusting for demographic characteristics and health risk behaviors, smartphone multitasking was still positively correlated to anxiety symptoms at baseline (β = 1.30, 95%CI: 0.54-2.05) and 6-month follow-up (β = 0.84, 95%CI: 0.32-1.37). The results of ARCLM showed that smartphone multitasking at baseline was positively correlated with anxiety symptoms after 6-month (β = 0.03, p < 0.01), but anxiety symptoms at baseline did not significantly correlate to smartphone multitasking after 6-month among college students (β = 0.04, p = 0.51).

Discussion and conclusions: Smartphone multitasking is associated with higher anxiety symptoms at baseline and follow-up, but no bidirectional relationship exists. Reducing smartphone use may improve mental wellbeing.

Background: Short versions of problematic internet use (PIU) questionnaires may provide a convenient and effective way of assessing internet-related problems in various contexts, ranging from research to clinical practice. The aim of this study was to investigate whether single yes/no question (Q-single) regarding "functional impairment due to PIU" could serve as a screening tool to indicate the potential absence of PIU, given the lack of functional impairment.

Methods: Data from two online studies (N = 524 and N = 272) assessing internet-related behaviors among students were used for the analyses. Participants completed questionnaires (the nine-item Problematic Internet Use Questionnaire [PIUQ-9], the Compulsive Internet Use Scale [CIUS], the nine-item Patient Health Questionnaire, depression module [PHQ-9], the seven-item Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale [GAD-7]), questions about their internet use time, besides answering the Q-Single question. Block-wise multiple linear regression analyses were used to determine the predictive effect of the Q-Single on PIU (as measured with the PIUQ-9 and the CIUS) and its association with depression and anxiety symptom scores (as measured with the PHQ-9 and the GAD-7).

Results: The Q-Single demonstrated a high negative predictive value in screening the absence of PIU, however positive predictive value was low to moderate. Q-Single proved to be a good predictor of PIU (β = 0.484, p < 0.001 [PIUQ-9] and β = 0.481, p < 0.001 [CIUS]) when controlling for age, gender, and internet use time. Adjusting for the same controlling variables, the Q-Single had a moderate association with depression symptoms (β = 0.385, p < 0.001 [PHQ-9]) and anxiety symptoms (β = 0.252, p < 0.001) [GAD-7]) supporting the validity of the single-question instrument.

Conclusions: The finding that a single question could predict absence of PIU in students, implies that functional impairment is an important indicator of PIU.

Background and objectives: As problematic internet use (PIU) becomes increasingly prevalent among university students, effective preventive measures remain scarce. This study aimed to investigate how the allocation of daily activity time influences PIU and PIU risk (PIU/PIUR) and to identify specific activities that serve as risk and protective factors along with their effect strength.

Methods: Data from 2,433 university students in 33 Chinese provinces were analyzed using compositional analysis, isotemporal substitution, and instrumental variable methods to determine causal relationships between activity allocation and PIU/PIUR and to calculate the specific effects of substituting one activity for another.

Results: After compositional adjustment, moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and classroom learning statistically significantly reduced PIU/PIUR (ps < 0.001, except PIUR for classroom learning: p = 0.002), whereas short videos and gaming increased PIU/PIUR (ps < 0.001). Sleep (PIU: p = 0.023, PIUR: p = 0.009) and autonomous learning (PIU: p = 0.013, PIUR: p = 0.003) were negatively correlated with PIU/PIUR but had no significant causal effect. Light physical activity was not statistically significantly correlated with PIU/PIUR (PIU: p = 0.141, PIUR: p = 0.585). Substituting 30 min of short video time with MVPA reduced PIUR by 22.9%. Conversely, replacing MVPA with short video watching increased PIUR by 68.3%.

Discussion and conclusions: Findings demonstrate the significant impact of 24-hour activity allocation on PIU/PIUR and suggest that time allocation strategies, particularly increasing MVPA while reducing short videos time, effectively reduce PIUR. These insights identify potential prevention for managing PIU via reallocation of daily activities.

Background: Public health issues arising from excessive online gaming have garnered significant research interest. Existing studies indicate that, within the framework of the dual-systems theory, the equilibrium between the goal-directed and habitual control systems is disrupted in patients with Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Nevertheless, the understanding of how this imbalance manifests within the brain is limited. This study aims to investigate real-time brain activity in individuals with IGD during the activation of both the goal-directed and habitual systems using electrophysiological techniques.

Methods: Twenty-four individuals with IGD and twenty-three matched recreational game users (RGUs) underwent electroencephalography (EEG) data collection while completing an outcome devaluation task. Differences between the two groups at the Fz, Cz, and Pz electrodes were compared using repeated measures ANOVA.

Results: The behavioral results revealed that the RGU group exhibited higher accuracy than the IGD group during the learning phase (t(45) = -3.08, p < 0.001, η2 = 0.42). During the slip-of-action test, the IGD group made more action-slip responses for devalued outcomes than the RGU group (F(1,45) = 6.22, p = 0.016, η2 = 0.12). The EEG experiment results indicated that, upon stimulus presentation during the slip-of-action test, the IGD group had significantly more negative average amplitudes at the Fz and Cz electrodes compared with the RGUs (-7.26 ± 6.28 μV; -5.18 ± 5.49 μV; F(1,40) = 5.54, p = 0.024, η2 = 0.12; F(1,40) = 4.92, p = 0.032, η2 = 0.11). Concurrently, the single-group analysis based on RGU revealed that habitual control appears to be associated with greater N2 and P3 amplitudes during the stimulus-locked phase.

Conclusions: The goal-directed system of individuals with IGD is impaired, manifesting in the increased cognitive resources required to activate the goal-directed system when they need to disrupt habitual responses. This suggests that the imbalance due to IGD within the dual systems may originate from an impaired goal-directed system rather than the overactivation of the habitual system.

Background and aim: Video gaming (VG) and cannabis use are two behaviors that are particularly prevalent among adolescents and young adults, as they can both be sedentary activities that are used to help decompress. As such, this raises questions about the possible relationship between VG and cannabis use. The aim of the present review is to document the relationship between VG and cannabis use.

Methods: A scoping review identified 25 articles published between 2000 and February 2025, and presenting original findings on the relationship between VG and cannabis use.

Results: Results demonstrate that existing literature is heterogeneous in its methods and measures. Nonetheless, evidence suggests that a relationship does exist, as the majority of studies did find a positive relationship between VG and cannabis use, although several studies also found no significant relationship, and a few even found a negative relationship.

Discussion: Being a new and emerging subject, few studies exist exploring the relationship between VG and cannabis use. Thus, there is much that needs to be explored before drawing clear conclusions on what type of relationship exists between both behaviours. An inability to draw clear conclusions is, in part, due to a lack of consistency in the way both VG and cannabis use have been operationalized, and the use of convenience samples, which have created additional challenges that the field will need to address moving forward.

Background and aims: Based on the Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model, this study aimed to identify dynamic reconfiguration of the basal ganglia network (BGN), limbic network (LN) and frontal-parietal network (FPN) in individuals with internet gaming disorder (IGD) during a real gaming situation. This approach overcomes the indirectness of experimental task situations in previous studies, providing direct evidence for the underlying neural basis of IGD.

Methods: Thirty gamers with IGD and 37 gamers with recreational game use (RGU) were scanned during online gaming and immediate deprivation. Two coefficients (recruitment and integration) were calculated using community structure, an emerging method, to represent individual functional segregation and integration of brain networks over time, respectively.

Results: The IGD group showed greater recruitment of BGN and LN after deprivation of gaming, and greater integration between the inferior frontal gyrus in the FPN and BGN and between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the FPN and LN during deprivation. In contrast, the RGU group exhibited lower recruitment of BGN during deprivation than during gaming, stable recruitment of LN and stable integration between nodes in the FPN and BGN.

Conclusions: Gamers with RGU always maintain stable cognitive control and emotional regulation and could drop cravings/anticipation for continuing gaming after being interrupted gaming. However, gamers with IGD have stronger craving/anticipation and emotional responses after being interrupted gaming and insufficient control over cravings/anticipation and emotions. These findings help directly explain why gamers with IGD are addicted to gaming, despite having similar gaming experiences to those of gamers with RGU.

Background and aims: Problematic smartphone use (PSU) has become an important public health issue in adolescence, and it is imperative to innovate treatments to improve and prolong the effectiveness of interventions. Considering that positive psychology interventions (PPIs) are highly effective in reducing addictive behaviors in adolescents, this study aims to develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention program (PREIP, 8 weeks, 1 h/week) on adolescent PSU within a positive psychology framework.

Methods: Adolescents from China were randomly assigned to the personal resources energized intervention program (PREIP) intervention group (N = 30), the CBT control group (N = 30), and the waitlist (N = 28), which were measured at baseline, post-intervention, and 2-month follow-up.

Results: Participants in the PREIP intervention group had significantly lower levels of PSU, and loneliness, and significantly higher levels of perceived social support and well-being compared to the two control groups (CBT control and waitlist). Furthermore, although participants in the CBT control group were able to significantly reduce PSU symptoms, the improvements in the PREIP group were more sustained over the follow-up period.

Discussion and conclusions: In conclusion, this study supports the positive effects of PREIP on adolescent PSU and explained the underlying mechanisms for improving positive mood, reducing loneliness, and promoting perceived social support.

Background and aim: The present study stems from the need to deepen knowledge regarding understanding the psychological mechanisms underlying Love Addiction (LA) and investigate the role of attachment style as a theoretical framework. We conducted a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analysis of the investigated topics to achieve this objective.

Method: Five databases (PsycINFO, PsycARTICLES, MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science) systematically searched for studies that analyzed the relationship between LA and attachment dimensions, published in all years until September 23, 2024.

Results: Overall, we found 27 studies; of these, we included 15 in the meta-analysis, with 3,628 participants. The analyses were conducted using the test of heterogeneity, effect dispersion, and moderator analysis (gender, age, research continent, quality of the studies, and types of attachment instruments). A significant and positive relationship (r = 0.39, p < 0 .05) was observed between Love Addiction and anxious attachment, while a significant and negative relationship was found with avoidant attachment (r = -0.09, p < 0.05).

Conclusions: The systematic review and meta-analysis provide an important starting point for understanding and operationalizing the construct. The association with attachment styles allows postulating the relational nature of Love Addiction, differentiating it from other addictions. In addition, the association with anxious and avoidant attachment shows promise in understanding Love Addict subtypes.

The proliferation of hostile behaviors among players in online multiplayer video games has become a growing concern in recent years. Toxic behaviors negatively impact individual and team performance, diminish game enjoyment, and risk the psychological well-being of gamers. This paper overviews current scientific knowledge on the manifestations and characteristics of this phenomenon, provides a taxonomy of the various behaviors, and outlines future research directions. The authors suggest that further research needs to focus on a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underlying toxicity. Prevention and intervention efforts are crucial to reduce the harms associated with engagement in toxic interactions and to improve the safety and inclusivity of online gaming environments.