Journal Article

Internet Gaming Disorder Does Not Predict Mood, Anxiety or Substance Use Disorders in University Students: A One-Year Follow-Up Study

Monroy-Velasco, Iris R., Báez-Mansur, Patricia M., Machado, Nydia, Hernández-Uribe, Praxedis C., Borges, Guilherme, Orozco, Ricardo, Covarrubias Diaz Couder, María A., Benjet, Corina, Contreras, Eunice V., Albor, Yesica, Quevedo-Chávez, Guillermo E., Gutierrez-García, Raúl A.

2023

Overview

We seek to evaluate whether Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) among university students in Mexico during their first year at university predicts a long list of mental disorders a year later, controlling for baseline mental health disorders as well as demographics. This is a prospective cohort study with a one-year follow-up period conducted during the 2018–2019 academic year and followed up during the 2019–2020 academic year at six Mexican universities. Participants were first-year university students (n = 1741) who reported symptoms compatible with an IGD diagnosis at entry (baseline). Outcomes are seven mental disorders (mania, hypomania, and major depressive episodes; generalized anxiety disorder and panic disorder; alcohol use disorder and drug use disorder), and three groups of mental disorders (mood, anxiety, and substance use disorders) at the end of the one-year follow-up. Fully adjusted models, that included baseline controls for groups of mental disorders, rendered all associations null. The association between baseline IGD and all disorders and groups of disorders at follow-up was close to one, suggesting a lack of longitudinal impact of IGD on mental disorders. Conflicting results from available longitudinal studies on the role of IGD in the development of mental disorders warrant further research.

• Publisher: MDPI AG,MDPI
• Subject: Anxiety / Anxiety Disorders / Behavior, Addictive - psychology / Bias / Cohort analysis / College students / Colleges & universities / Computer & video games / Depressive Disorder, Major / Drug use / Follow-Up Studies / Gambling / Humans / Internet / Internet Addiction Disorder / Learning / Mania / Medical research / Medicine, Experimental / Mental disorders / Mental health / Prospective Studies / Students / Substance abuse / Substance use disorder / Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology / Universities / University students / Variables / Video Games - psychology