Study Finds Little Evidence That Adolescent “Gaming Addiction” Necessitates Clinical Treatment

Summary: New research finds scant evidence that obsessive gaming in adolescents, often labeled “gaming addiction,” on its own warrants medical or psychiatric intervention.

Source: Oxford University

Research led by Oxford University in collaboration with Cardiff University and published in Clinical Psychological Science reports that there is little indication that an unhealthy passion for video gaming among adolescents—commonly called gaming addiction—requires clinical treatment by medical professionals.

The analysis draws on data from a large cohort of adolescents and their caregivers. The authors report that adolescents who display problematic or dysregulated gaming behavior are more likely to be reacting to frustrations and broader psychosocial difficulties in their everyday lives than to be harmed primarily by gaming itself. In other words, gaming often appears to be a coping strategy or a symptom rather than the root cause of emotional, peer, or behavioral challenges.

Professor Andrew Przybylski, Director of Research at the Oxford Internet Institute and co-author of the study, explained that both the World Health Organization and the American Psychiatric Association have urged researchers to examine whether dysregulated gaming meets the threshold for a clinical disorder. Previous work frequently neglected the wider life context of affected adolescents. This study applied self-determination theory and open science principles to explore whether basic psychological need satisfactions and frustrations in daily life are associated with obsessive gaming patterns.

The researchers collected questionnaire data from adolescents about their gaming habits—how long they played, with whom they played, and whether they played online—and gathered caregiver ratings of the adolescents’ emotional and social functioning. The published paper reports results from a preregistered cohort that included over 2,000 participants, analyzed with confirmatory methods to test specific hypotheses about need satisfaction, need frustration, and dysregulated gaming.

Key findings from the study include:

• Most adolescents in the sample played at least one internet-based game each day.
• Fewer than half of daily online players reported symptoms consistent with obsessive or dysregulated gaming.
• Frequent players were highly engaged with games, averaging about three hours of play per day.
• The researchers found little evidence that obsessive gaming by itself had a strong, direct negative impact on emotional, peer, or behavioral outcomes.

Importantly, the study suggests that frustrations of basic psychological needs—such as needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness or social belonging—predicted dysregulated gaming and poorer psychosocial functioning. The absence of need satisfactions alone did not have the same predictive power. In short, when adolescents experience active frustrations in their daily lives, they are more likely to turn to gaming in ways that can appear obsessive.

Dr. Netta Weinstein, Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at Cardiff University and co-author, urged clinicians and healthcare professionals to look beyond surface behaviors. She emphasized the importance of assessing underlying psychological satisfactions and everyday sources of frustration to understand why a subset of young players feel compelled to play in an obsessive manner, rather than treating gaming behavior as the primary disorder.

Professor Przybylski added that while the increased popularity of gaming has raised concerns among health and mental health professionals, the available data do not provide compelling evidence that games, by themselves, are the root cause of broader problems. The study authors call for better, more transparent data and cooperation from the video game industry to enable more definitive research on how gaming fits into adolescents’ mental health and day-to-day functioning.

Source:
Oxford University
Media Contacts:
Andrew Przybylski – Oxford University
Image Source:
The image is adapted from the Oxford University news release.

Original Research: Open access
“Investigating the Motivational and Psychosocial Dynamics of Dysregulated Gaming: Evidence From a Preregistered Cohort Study”. Andrew K. Przybylski, Netta Weinstein. Clinical Psychological Science. doi: 10.1177/2167702619859341.

Abstract (summary)

The American Psychiatric Association and World Health Organization have asked researchers to clarify the clinical relevance of dysregulated video-game play. Using self-determination theory as a framework, the authors tested whether basic psychological need satisfactions and frustrations underlie dysfunctional gaming and whether dysregulated gaming affects adolescent functioning. In a preregistered study of British adolescents and their caregivers (total cohort reported at n = 2,008), the results indicated that need frustrations—but not merely the lack of need satisfactions—predicted dysregulated gaming and related psychosocial outcomes. The authors discuss the clinical significance of gaming dysregulation and highlight the benefits of transparent scientific practices to inform policy and clinical guidance.