RT Journal Article
T1 Prevalence of problematic internet use and problematic gaming in Spanish adolescents
A1 Nogueira López, Abel
A1 Rial Boubeta, Antonio
A1 Guadix García, Ignacio
A1 Villanueva Blasco, Víctor
A1 Billieux, Joël
K1 Addictive behaviors
K1 ICD-11
K1 DSM-5
K1 Over-pathologisation
K1 Gaming disorder
K1 Problematic gaming
K1 Problematic internet use
K1 Internet addiction
K1 Prevalence
AB Epidemiological studies on problematic Internet use and problematic gaming conducted so far have mainly been carried out with unrepresentative and self-selected convenience samples, resulting in unreliable prevalence rates. This study estimates the prevalence of problematic Internet use and problematic gaming in a large sample of Spanish adolescents (N = 41,507) and identifies risk and protective factors for these risky behaviours. Data were collected online using the Adolescent Problem Internet Use Scale and the Adolescent Gaming Addiction Scale. Using a cut-off approach with measurement instruments inspired by the DSM-5 framework, we found a prevalence of 33% for problematic Internet use and 3.1% for problematic gaming. With a more conservative approach inspired by the ICD-11 framework, prevalence rates decreased to 2.98% for problematic Internet use and 1.8% for problematic gaming. Female gender, higher parents’ education, elevated Internet connection time, reporting being online after midnight and using the mobile phone in class predicted problematic Internet use; whereas male gender, “living situation” where families do not have a traditional structure or stable environment, elevated Internet connection time and reporting using the mobile phone in class predicted problematic gaming. A cut-off approach involving scales that recycle substance use criteria (as in the DSM-5) over-pathologize Internet use and gaming behaviours. In contrast, the ICD-11 approach seems to provide more realistic and reliable prevalence rates
PB Elsevier
YR 2023
FD 2023-06-18
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10347/44315
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10347/44315
LA eng
NO Nogueira-López, A., Rial-Boubeta, A., Guadix-García, I., Villanueva-Blasco, V.J. & Billieux, J. (2023). Prevalence of problematic internet use and problematic gaming in Spanish adolescents. Psychiatry Research, 326, 115317. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115317
NO This work is part of a collaborative project between UNICEF Spain, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the Spanish General Council of Informatics Engineering (CCII). In addition, this research has been developed within the framework of the grants for the requalification of the Spanish university system 2021–2023 (Margarita Salas), called by the Ministry of Universities within the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan “Modernisation and digitisation of the education system”, and its funding comes from the European Recovery Instrument European Union - NextGenerationEU, through the call of the University of Leon, Reference UP2021–025, Organic Key Ñ-134
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026