Emotional Intelligence and Gaming Disorder Symptomatology: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Open accessAbstract
The increasing prevalence of the Internet gaming disorder has created an interest in identifying the factors associated with its development, including emotional intelligence, which has been negatively associated with many addictions. This work aimed to provide a narrative and quantitative synthesis of the association between emotional intelligence and Internet gaming disorder symptomatology. An online search of four electronic databases and an additional manual search identified 49 studies that met the inclusion criteria provided 54 independent samples (N = 43,289) and a total of 166 correlation coefficients. The selected studies used different definitions of emotional intelligence (i.e., emotional regulation, social-emotional competence, ability and trait). Random-effect models were used to estimate the pooled correlation coefficient between emotional intelligence and Internet gaming disorder symptomatology. The results revealed a small-to-moderate negative association between any measure of emotional intelligence and Internet gaming disorder symptomatology. However, the various characteristics involved in its study, such as methodological quality, research design, geographical location and the means of assessing emotional intelligence, could modify the association between both variables. In short, any deficits in emotional regulation or social competence could be a risk factor for developing Internet gaming disorder.
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People with lower levels of emotional intelligence are more likely to develop problematic behaviors.
“On the other hand, people with lower levels of emotional intelligence are more likely to develop problematic behaviors.”
From Adolescent Social Media Use and Emotional Intelligence: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Gisbert-Pérez et al., 2024
No review has focused specifically on the correlation between social media use and emotional intelligence.
“no review has focused specifically on the correlation between social media use and emotional intelligence”
From Adolescent Social Media Use and Emotional Intelligence: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Gisbert-Pérez et al., 2024
A small number of studies have shown that lower levels of emotional intelligence may be correlated with higher levels of problematic use of technological communication media such as smartphones, the Internet, and video games.
“A small number of studies have shown that lower levels of emotional intelligence may be correlated with higher levels of problematic use of technological communication media such as smartphones, the Internet, and video games (Alshakhsi etal., 2022; Che etal., 2017; Gisbert-Pérez etal., 2024).”
From Adolescent Social Media Use and Emotional Intelligence: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Gisbert-Pérez et al., 2024
The relationship between emotional intelligence and social media use among adolescents remains largely unexplored in the literature.
“Despite its significance, the relationship between emotional intelligence and social media use among adolescents remains largely unexplored in the literature.”
From Adolescent Social Media Use and Emotional Intelligence: A Systematic Review (2025) · cites this paper as Gisbert-Pérez et al., 2024
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Adolescent Social Media Use and Emotional Intelligence: A Systematic Review
Piccerillo, L., & Digennaro, S. (2025) · Adolescent Research Review · doi:10.1007/s40894-024-00245-z · Cited by 55 · see citing works
“A small number of studies have shown that lower levels of emotional intelligence may be correlated with higher levels of problematic use of technological communication media such as smartphones, the Internet, and video games (Alshakhsi et al., 2022; Che et al., 2017; Gisbert-Pérez et al., 2024).”
- Authors
- Gisbert-Pérez, J., Badenes-Ribera, L., & Martí-Vilar, M.
- Affiliations
- Universitat de València (ES)
- Venue
- Adolescent Research Review
- Published
- 2024-02-25
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 621-646
- ISSN
- 2363-8346 (ISSN-L)
- 2363-8354
- OpenAlex
- W4392144218
- Cited by
- 12
- References
- 18
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 3
- FWCI
- 1.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Adolescent Research Review (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Repository of Digital Objects for Teaching Research and Culture (University of Valencia) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Funders
- Universitat de Valencia
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Impact of Technology on Adolescents
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Gambling Behavior and Treatments
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Sexuality, Behavior, and Technology
- Keywords
- emotional intelligence, internet gaming disorder, emotion regulation, socioemotional skills, trait emotional intelligence, ability emotional intelligence, risk factors, addiction
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