„Gaming“ im Kindesalter: Über die Rolle des elterlichen Gaming und kindlicher Tendenzen zur Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-/Hyperaktivitätsstörung

Psychometric Assessment and Gender Invariance of the Polish Version of the Gaming Disorder Test

In 2019, Gaming Disorder (GD) was officially recognised by the World Health Organization (WHO) as an official mental health disorder. Currently, the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) is one of the most widely utilised psychometric tools to assess GD symptoms according to the WHO framework. In this context, the present study aimed to develop the Polish version of the GDT so that this tool can be used within the Polish cultural context. Additionally, the research aimed to ascertain the psychometric properties and appropriateness of the Polish GDT. To achieve this goal, the Polish GDT was investigated in terms of its validity, reliability, and gender measurement invariance through two studies. Accordingly, study 1 recruited a total of 675 gamers (340 female; Meanage = 31.74 years; SD = 7.75 years; range: 15-45 years) and study 2 comprised 575 gamers (275 female; M age = 29.45 years; SD = 4.25 years; range: 18-35 years). A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to assess psychometric properties of the Polish GDT. The reliability was assessed using Cronbach's alpha, McDonald's omega, and Average Variance Extracted. Gender measurement invariance was investigated using multiple-group CFA, and the unidimensionality was tested using mean of item residual absolute loadings (MIREAL), explained common variance (ECV), and unidimensional congruence (UC). The results of the psychometric analysis showed that the Polish GDT had a one-factor structure. Additionally, the present study demonstrated that the Polish GDT exhibited adequate levels of convergent validity, reliability, and strict gender measurement invariance. These findings suggest that the Polish version of GDT is a suitable psychometric test to assess GD and facilitate research on GD.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11469-022-00929-4.

Linking Gaming Disorder Tendencies in Children to Their Personality and Parental Gaming Behavior

Playing computer and video games (so-called gaming) is of great popularity among children and adults. But for some people, gaming gets out of hand and can result in a Gaming Disorder (GD). Among others, high neuroticism and low conscientiousness are considered to play a role in the etiology of GD. Next to personality traits, environmental variables are debated such as the parental influence on children's gaming behavior. In detail, parental gaming behavior could have role model functions for children. Based on empirical observations and theoretical frameworks, it was hypothesized that higher tendencies to GD in children are associated with higher neuroticism, lower conscientiousness, and higher parental tendencies to GD. In an online survey N = 493 parents (n = 472 females; age: M = 36.30, SD = 5.46) rated their own and their children's (n = 233 girls, n = 260 boys; age: M = 6.03, SD = 2.30) tendencies to GD by the Gaming Disorder Test (GDT) and their children's personality by the Big Five Inventory (BFI). Neuroticism was significantly correlated with the GDT scores of boys (rho = 0.256, p = 0.001) and girls (rho = 0.300, p = 0.001), while a significant correlation with conscientiousness was only present for boys (rho = -0.196, p = 0.010). Parents' and children's general playing of computer and video games were interdependent [χ²(1) = 29.14, p < 0.001]; hence, if parents reported to be gamers, their children were more likely gamers as well. The GDT scores of parents and children were positively correlated (boys: rho = 0.36; p = 0.002; girls: rho = 0.33, p = 0.004). The results indicate that already in children the personality traits neuroticism and conscientiousness are associated with tendencies toward GD. Moreover, as gaming of parents and children was related to each other, it is conceivable that parents influence their children's gaming behavior via their own gaming behavior. Therefore, parents should be aware of their exemplary function for children and may overthink their own gaming behavior. But it has to be mentioned that the correlational nature of the present work allows no insights regarding causal relations.