Factor structure of ten psychoactive substance addictions and behavioural addictions : common psychoactive substance and behavioural addictions
- Authors: Gomez, Rapson , Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Brown, Taylor , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2022
- Type: Text , Journal article , Review
- Relation: Psychiatry Research Vol. 313, no. (2022), p.
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- Description: Over the past two decades, many problematic/excessive behaviours have increasingly been conceptualized as addictions due to their similarity with more traditional psychoactive substance addictions. The primary aim of the present study was to simultaneously examine the factor structure of three psychoactive substance addictions (alcohol use, cigarette smoking, and substance use) and seven behavioural addictions (sex, social media use, shopping, exercise, online gambling, internet gaming, and internet use), using exploratory factor analysis (EFA; N = 481) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA; N = 487). A total of 968 participants completed an online survey including ten psychometric scales assessing the ten different potentially addictive behaviours. EFA supported a two-factor solution, with different factors for the psychoactive substance and behavioural addictions (excluding exercise addiction). CFA supported the two-factor model in a separate sample. There was good support for the concurrent and discriminant validities of the CFA latent factors and the reliability of the behavioural latent factor in the two-factor CFA model. While there was support for the concurrent and discriminant validities of the psychoactive substance latent factor, there was insufficient support for its reliability. The taxonomic, theoretical, and clinical implications of the findings are discussed. © 2022
In search of the optimum structural model for internet gaming disorder
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Gomez, Rapson , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: BMC Psychiatry Vol. 21, no. 1 (2021), p.
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- Description: Background: Internet gaming Disorder (IGD) constitutes a recently proposed clinical disorder (American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 2013). The present study examined if IGD is best conceptualized as categorical (present/absent), or dimensional (severity ranging from low to high), or both (i.e., hybrid of categorical/dimensional). Methods: Ratings of the nine DSM-5 IGD symptoms, as presented in the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale 9-Short Form (Pontes & Griffiths, Comput Hum Behav 45:137-143, 2015), from 738 gamers, aged 17 to 72 years, were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), latent class analysis (LCA), and factor mixture modelling analysis (FMMA) procedures were applied to determine the optimum IGD model. Results: Although the findings showed most support for a FFMA model with two classes and one factor, there was also good statistical and substantive support for the one-factor CFA model, and the LCA model with three classes. Conclusion: It was concluded that while the optimum structure of IGD is most likely to be a hybrid model (i.e., concurrently categorical and dimensional), a uni-dimensional model and/or a three-class categorical model are also plausible. © 2021, The Author(s).
Test-retest measurement invariance of the nine-item internet gaming disorder scale in two countries : a preliminary longitudinal study
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Bamford, Luke , Beard, Charlotte , Gomez, Rapson , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2021
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Vol. 19, no. 6 (2021), p. 2003-2020
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- Description: The reliable longitudinal assessment of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) behaviors is viewed by many as a pivotal clinical and research priority. The present study is the first to examine the test-retest measurement invariance of IGD ratings, as assessed using the short-form nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGDS9-SF) over an approximate period of 3 months, across two normative national samples. Differences referring to the mode of the data collection (face-to-face [FtF] vs. online) were also considered. Two sequences of successive multiple group confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) were calculated to longitudinally assess the psychometric properties of the IGDS9-SF using emergent adults, gamers from (i) the United States of America (USA; N = 120, 18–29 years, Meanage = 22.35, 51.6% male) assessed online and; and (ii) Australia (N = 61, 18–31 years, Meanage = 23.02, 75.4% male) assessed FtF. Configural invariance was established across both samples, and metric and scalar invariances were supported for the USA sample. Interestingly, only partial metric (factor loadings for Items 2 and 3 non-invariant) and partial scalar invariance (i.e., all thresholds of Items 1 and 2, and thresholds 1, 3, for Items 4, 6, 8, and 9 non-invariant) were established for the Australian sample. Findings are discussed in the light of using IGDS9-SF to assess and monitor IGD behaviors over time in both in clinical and non-clinical settings. © 2019, The Author(s).
Confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory structural equation modelling of the factor structure of the depression anxiety and stress scales-21
- Authors: Gomez, Rapson , Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Plos One Vol. 15, no. 6 (Jun 2020), p. 16
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- Description: The Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales-21 (DASS-21) involves a simple structure first-order three-factor oblique model, with factors for depression, anxiety, and stress. Recently, concerns have been raised over the value of using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for studying the factor structure of scales in general. However, such concerns can be circumvented using exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). Consequently, the present study used CFA and ESEM with target rotation to examine the factor structure of the DASS-21 among an adult community. It compared first-order CFA, ESEM with target rotation, bi-factor CFA (BCFA), and bi-factor BESEM with target rotation models with group/specific factors for depression, anxiety, and stress. A total of 738 adults (males = 374, and females = 364; M = 25.29 years; SD = 7.61 years) completed the DASS-21. While all models examined showed good global fit values, one or more of the group/specific factors in the BCFA, ESEM with target rotation and BESEM with target rotation models were poorly defined. As the first-order CFA model was most parsimonious, with well-defined factors that were also supported in terms of their reliabilities and validities, this model was selected as the preferred DASS-21 model. The implications of the findings for use and revision of the DASS-21 are discussed.
Inattention and disordered gaming : does culture matter?
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Baynes, Kyi , O’Farrel, Dominic , Gomez, Rapson , Mueller, Astrid , Yucel, Murat , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Psychiatric Quarterly Vol. 91, no. 2 (2020), p. 333-348
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- Description: Problematic gaming has emerged as a contemporary concern, leading to the introduction of the diagnostic term ‘Internet Gaming Disorder’ (IGD; American Psychiatric Association). The present study aims to empirically assess the association between inattention and IGD, in the light of variable levels of vertical-individualism that reflects cultural inclinations towards independence, competitiveness, and hierarchy. The participants (N = 1032) comprised a normative cohort of Massively Multiplayer Online (MMO) gamers (Mage = 24 years; 48.7% male). IGD was measured with the nine-item short-form IGD Scale (IGD9-SF), inattention with the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Self-Report Scale, and vertical individualism with the Individualism-Collectivism Questionnaire. Complex hierarchical and moderated regressions were employed. Findings demonstrated an association between IGD and inattention, and additionally showed that this association was exacerbated by a more vertically-individualistic cultural orientation without significant gender differences. The need of differentially addressing IGD risk among inattentive gamers of diverse cultural orientation is highlighted. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Internal and external validity of the brief version of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire: Exploratory structural equation modelling
- Authors: Gomez, Rapson , Griffiths, Mark , Stavropoulos, Vasileios
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: PLoS ONE Vol. 15, no. 4 (2020), p.
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- Description: The present study used exploratory structural equation modelling (ESEM) to examine the theorized dimension structure of the brief version of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ-BR) at the scale-level (i.e., 11 lower-order primary factors loading on four higher-order factors) and item-level (sets of 12 items loading on 11 lower-order primary factors). A total of 214 adults from the community addressed the MPQ-BR and the Behavioral Inhibition System (BIS)/Behavioral Approach System (BAS) scales. The findings revealed poor fit and poorly defined factors at the item-level alongside adequate fit and well-defined factors at the scale-level. The higher-order factors in the latter model were supported for external validity in terms of demonstrating the expected theoretical and empirical correlations with the scales of the BIS/BAS scales. Result related implications for professional application, as well as potential revisions of the MPQ-BF are illustrated. © 2020 Gomez et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Proteus effect profiles : how do they relate with disordered gaming behaviours?
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Pontes, Halley , Gomez, Rapson , Schivinski, Bruno , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Psychiatric Quarterly Vol. 91, no. 3 (2020), p. 615-628
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- Description: Gamers represent themselves in online gaming worlds through their avatars. The term “Proteus Effect” (PE) defines the potential influences of the gamers’ avatars on their demeanour, perception and conduct and has been linked with excessive gaming. There is a significant lack of knowledge regarding likely distinct PE profiles and whether these could be differentially implicated with disordered gaming. A normative group of 1022 World of Warcraft (WoW) gamers were assessed in the present study (Mean age = 28.60 years). The Proteus Effect Scale (PES) was used to evaluate the possible avatar effect on gamers’ conduct, and the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short-Form was used to examine gaming disorder behaviors. Latent class profiling resulted in three distinct PE classes, ‘non-influenced-gamers’ (NIGs), ‘perception-cognition-influenced-gamers’ (PCIGs), and ‘emotion-behaviour-influenced-gamers’ (EBIGs). The NIGs reported low rates across all PES items. The PCIGs indicated higher avatar influence in their perception-experience but did not report being affected emotionally. The EBIGs indicated significantly higher avatar influence in their emotion and behaviour than the other two classes but reported stability in their perception of aspects independent of their avatar. Gaming disorder behaviours were reduced for the NIGs and progressively increased for the PCIGs and the EBIGs. © 2020, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
User-avatar bond profiles : how do they associate with disordered gaming?
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Gomez, Rapson , Mueller, Astrid , Yucel, Murat , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2020
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Addictive Behaviors Vol. 103, no. (2020), p.
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- Description: Aims: The avatar constitutes the in-game representation of the gamer. Although aspects of the user-avatar bond (UAB) have been associated with disordered gaming, there is a need for clearer understanding concerning the impact of potential UAB profiles. Methods: To address this need, the present study recruited a normative sample of 1022 World of Warcraft (WoW) players (Mage = 28.55 years, SD = 9.90). Participants completed the User-Avatar Questionnaire (to assess UAB aspects such as identification, immersion, and compensation), the Proteus-Effect Scale (to assess transference of the avatar's behaviour in real life), and the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short-Form (to assess disordered gaming). Results: Latent class analysis indicated the existence of three UAB profiles, ‘differentiated gamers’ (DGs), ‘identified gamers’ (IGs) and ‘fused gamers’ (FGs). The DGs were characterized by low scores across all UAB aspects. The IGs did not report significant Proteus Effect (PE) or immersion behaviours, and despite being more identified with their avatar, did not significantly compensate through it. The FGs presented with higher PE, immersion, and compensation, although they did not significantly identify with their avatars, possibly due to having idealized them. Disordered gaming behaviours were significantly lower for the DGs and sequentially higher for the IGs and the FGs. Preoccupation and mood modification behaviours related to gaming disorder were distinctively associated with FGs. Conclusion: Disordered gaming assessment and treatment implications of the UAB profiles are discussed. © 2019 Elsevier Ltd
- Description: Murat Yucel has received funding from Monash University , and Australian Government funding bodies such as the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC; including Fellowship #APP1117188 ), the Australian Research Council (ARC), and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. He has also received philanthropic donations from the David Winston Turner Endowment Fund, Wilson Foundation, as well as payment from law firms in relation to court and/or expert witness reports. The funding sources had no role in the design, management, data analysis, presentation, or interpretation and write-up of the data.
Flow on the Internet : A longitudinal study of Internet addiction symptoms during adolescence
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Griffiths, Mark , Burleigh, Tyrone , Kuss, Daria , Doh, Young , Gomez, Rapson
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Behaviour and Information Technology Vol. 37, no. 2 (2018), p. 159-172
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- Description: Internet Addiction (IA) constitutes an excessive Internet use behavior with a significant impact on the user’s well-being. Online flow describes the users’ level of being absorbed by their online activity. The present study investigated age-related, gender, and flow effects on IA in adolescence. The sample comprised 648 adolescents who were assessed twice at age 16 and 18 years. IA was assessed using the Internet Addiction Test and online flow was assessed using the Online Flow Questionnaire. A three-level hierarchical model estimated age-related, gender, and online flow effects on IA symptoms and controlled for clustered random effects. IA symptoms decreased over time (for both genders) with a slower rate in males. Online flow was associated with IA symptoms and this remained consistent over time. Findings expand upon the available literature suggesting that IA symptoms could function as a development-related manifestation at the age of 16 years, while IA-related gender differences gradually increase between 16 and 18 years. Finally, the association between online flow and IA symptoms remained stable independent of age-related effects. The study highlights individual differences and provides directions for more targeted prevention and intervention initiatives for IA. © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
Measurement invariance of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale-Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) between Australia, the USA, and the UK
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Beard, Charlotte , Griffiths, Mark , Buleigh, Tyrone , Gomez, Rapson , Pontes, Halley
- Date: 2018
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction Vol. 16, no. 2 (2018), p. 377-392
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- Description: The Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) is widely used to assess Internet Gaming Disorder behaviors. Investigating cultural limitations and implications in its applicability is imperative. One way to evaluate the cross-cultural feasibility of the measure is through measurement invariance analysis. The present study used Multigroup Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA) to examine the IGDS9-SF measurement invariance across gamers from Australia, the United States of America (USA), and the United Kingdom (UK). To accomplish this, 171 Australian, 463 USA, and 281 UK gamers completed the IGDS9-SF. Although results supported the one-factor structure of the IGD construct, they indicated cross-country variations in the strength of the relationships between the indicators and their respective factor (i.e., non-invariant loadings of items 1, 2, 5), and that the same scores may not always indicate the same level of IGD severity across the three groups (i.e., non-invariant intercepts for items 1, 5, 7, 9).
The longitudinal association between anxiety and Internet addiction in adolescence : The moderating effect of classroom extraversion
- Authors: Stavropoulos, Vasileios , Gomez, Rapson , Steen, Eloisa , Beard, Charlotte , Liew, Lucas , Griffiths, Mark
- Date: 2017
- Type: Text , Journal article
- Relation: Journal of Behavioral Addictions Vol. 6, no. 2 (2017), p. 237-247
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- Description: Background and aims The risk effect of anxiety on addictive behaviors, including Internet addiction (IA), has repeatedly been highlighted in the international literature. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies examining this association in relation to proximal context effects, particularly in adolescence. Such findings would shed light on potential age- and proximal context-related variations in the anxiety-IA association that could better inform IA prevention and intervention initiatives. Methods In this study, 648 adolescents, embedded in 34 classrooms, were assessed at the age of 16 and again at the age of 18 to examine the effect of anxiety on IA behaviors in relation to the average level of classroom extraversion. IA was assessed with the Internet Addiction Test (Young, 1998), anxiety with the relevant subscale of the Symptom Checklist 90 - Revised (Derogatis & Savitz, 1999) and classroom extraversion with the synonymous subscale of the Five Factor Questionnaire (Asendorpf & van Aken, 2003). A three-level hierarchical linear model was calculated. Results The present findings demonstrated that: (a) higher levels of anxiety were significantly associated with higher IA behaviors, (b) the strength of this association did not vary over time (between 16 and 18 years old), and (c) however, it tended to weaken within classrooms higher in extraversion. Discussion This study indicated that the contribution of individual IA risk factors might differently unfold within different contexts.