The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use
The current study aimed to investigate associations between gaming and different patterns of problematic alcohol use, controlling for important demographics, personality and mental health covariates. Data was collected by an online survey during fall 2016 (N = 5217). Students who had participated in...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2019-12-01
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| Series: | Addictive Behaviors Reports |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853218301883 |
| _version_ | 1818826347022123008 |
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| author | Eilin K. Erevik Torbjørn Torsheim Cecilie S. Andreassen Elfrid Krossbakken Øystein Vedaa Ståle Pallesen |
| author_facet | Eilin K. Erevik Torbjørn Torsheim Cecilie S. Andreassen Elfrid Krossbakken Øystein Vedaa Ståle Pallesen |
| author_sort | Eilin K. Erevik |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The current study aimed to investigate associations between gaming and different patterns of problematic alcohol use, controlling for important demographics, personality and mental health covariates. Data was collected by an online survey during fall 2016 (N = 5217). Students who had participated in a survey among students in Bergen, Norway, one year earlier were invited to participate. Crude and adjusted binary logistic regression analyses were conducted in order to assess the relationship between different patterns of problematic alcohol use and gaming (i.e. low-level gaming and high-level gaming vs. no gaming) while controlling for important covariates. The different gaming groups were categorised based on the number of symptoms of “gaming addiction” (in total seven) that they endorsed: 4 > symptoms = low-level gaming, 4 ≤ symptoms = high-level gaming. Only 0.2% (n = 11) endorsed all seven symptoms. Low-level gaming was positively associated with patterns of problematic alcohol use in the crude analyses; these associations became non-significant when controlling for demographic variables. High-level gaming was inversely associated with patterns of problematic alcohol use when controlling for demographics, personality, and mental health covariates. The inverse relationship between high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use (when controlling for covariates) suggest that heavy investment in gaming may protect against excessive alcohol use and alcohol-related harm. Possible explanations discussed for the inverse associations include high-level gamers having less available time to drink, intoxication being incompatible with gaming, and/or high-level gamers experiencing sufficient satisfaction/escape and social bonding by gaming, hence having less need for alcohol. Keywords: Gaming, Gaming disorder, Alcohol use, Students, Personality, Mental health |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T00:26:13Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-ac45fc2ee62e41e7b9744da5374cd6ba |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2352-8532 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T00:26:13Z |
| publishDate | 2019-12-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Addictive Behaviors Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-ac45fc2ee62e41e7b9744da5374cd6ba2022-12-21T20:45:14ZengElsevierAddictive Behaviors Reports2352-85322019-12-0110The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol useEilin K. Erevik0Torbjørn Torsheim1Cecilie S. Andreassen2Elfrid Krossbakken3Øystein Vedaa4Ståle Pallesen5Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, PO Box 7807, 5020 Bergen, Norway; Corresponding author.Department of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, PO Box 7807, 5020 Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Social Studies, University of Stavanger, PO Box 8600, Forus, 4036 Stavanger, Norway; Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Bergen, PO Box 7807, 5020 Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, PO Box 7807, 5020 Bergen, NorwayDepartment of Health Promotion, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, PO Box 973, Sentrum, 5808 Bergen, Norway; Department of Mental Health, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, PO Box 8905, NO-7491 Trondheim, NorwayDepartment of Psychosocial Science, University of Bergen, PO Box 7807, 5020 Bergen, NorwayThe current study aimed to investigate associations between gaming and different patterns of problematic alcohol use, controlling for important demographics, personality and mental health covariates. Data was collected by an online survey during fall 2016 (N = 5217). Students who had participated in a survey among students in Bergen, Norway, one year earlier were invited to participate. Crude and adjusted binary logistic regression analyses were conducted in order to assess the relationship between different patterns of problematic alcohol use and gaming (i.e. low-level gaming and high-level gaming vs. no gaming) while controlling for important covariates. The different gaming groups were categorised based on the number of symptoms of “gaming addiction” (in total seven) that they endorsed: 4 > symptoms = low-level gaming, 4 ≤ symptoms = high-level gaming. Only 0.2% (n = 11) endorsed all seven symptoms. Low-level gaming was positively associated with patterns of problematic alcohol use in the crude analyses; these associations became non-significant when controlling for demographic variables. High-level gaming was inversely associated with patterns of problematic alcohol use when controlling for demographics, personality, and mental health covariates. The inverse relationship between high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use (when controlling for covariates) suggest that heavy investment in gaming may protect against excessive alcohol use and alcohol-related harm. Possible explanations discussed for the inverse associations include high-level gamers having less available time to drink, intoxication being incompatible with gaming, and/or high-level gamers experiencing sufficient satisfaction/escape and social bonding by gaming, hence having less need for alcohol. Keywords: Gaming, Gaming disorder, Alcohol use, Students, Personality, Mental healthhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853218301883 |
| spellingShingle | Eilin K. Erevik Torbjørn Torsheim Cecilie S. Andreassen Elfrid Krossbakken Øystein Vedaa Ståle Pallesen The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use Addictive Behaviors Reports |
| title | The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use |
| title_full | The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use |
| title_fullStr | The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use |
| title_full_unstemmed | The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use |
| title_short | The associations between low-level gaming, high-level gaming and problematic alcohol use |
| title_sort | associations between low level gaming high level gaming and problematic alcohol use |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352853218301883 |
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