Association of internet gaming disorder with impulsivity: role of risk preferences
Open accessAbstract
Background: Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is a formal mental disorder leading to personal and social impairment. Although it shares similar physical and psychosocial effects to substance use disorder, the psychological mechanisms underlying IGD remain unclear, although several researches have made significant contributions to its understanding. This study aims to elucidate the correlation between IGD, impulsive personality and risk preference of medical college students in China, from a questionnaire-based investigation. Methods: Based on the cluster random sampling method, a questionnaire survey was conducted among medical college students in Northern Anhui, China from September 3 to October 27, 2020. The questionnaires included the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale (IGD-20), Chinese revised of Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS-11), and risk appetite index (RPI). Perform independent sample t-tests, analysis of variance (ANOVA), correlation analysis, and moderating effect analysis using SPSS 23.0. P < 0. 05 is considered statistically significant. Results: 624 participants completed the survey, including 257 males (41.19%) and 367 females (58.81%). All participants were between 18 and 24 years. We found that in IGD and its six different dimensions and RPI, males scored significantly higher than females. Additionally, our finding revealed there is statistical significance in IGD and impulsiveness between gaming group with game time greater than or equal to 4 h and non-gaming group. The IGD and its six different dimensions, among which all except for mood modification are positively correlated with impulsiveness and RPI. Mediating effects indicate that RPI plays a partial mediating role between motor impulsiveness and IGD. Conclusion: The findings shows that there is a certain relationship between impulsivity and RPI, as well as IGD and its dimensions. RPI may be a mediator between impulsivity and IGD, and men have higher IGD. The findings supported the compensatory hypothesis. These findings may contribute to further research and development of intervention and prevention measures for IGD.
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Most adolescents who engage in video gaming do not develop internet gaming disorder, and problematic outcomes are primarily confined to those with risk factors such as high impulsivity or pre-existing mental health conditions.
“However, most adolescents who engage in video gaming do not develop IGD, and problematic outcomes are primarily confined to those with risk factors, such as high impulsivity or pre-existing mental health conditions [9, 12].”
From Health Benefits of Video Games in Adolescents and Young Adults (2026) · cites this paper as [12]
The Background (page unavailable) reports IGD in 17.0% of adolescent game players in China, supporting the point that most do not develop it. The Background and Discussion link impulsivity to IGD, but the paper does not establish that problematic outcomes are primarily confined to people with risk factors. It describes depression and anxiety as possible consequences of IGD, not pre-existing conditions that increase risk. (LLM, conf=0.88)
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- Authors
- Zhu, L., Zhu, Y., Li, S., Jiang, Y., Mei, X., Wang, Y., Yang, D., Zhao, J., Mu, L., & Wang, W.
- Affiliations
- Bengbu Medical College (CN)
- Xi'an Jiaotong University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Wenjuan
- Venue
- BMC Psychiatry
- Published
- 2023-10-16
- Volume
- 23
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 754-754
- ISSN
- 1471-244X (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC10580621
- OpenAlex
- W4387666777
- Cited by
- 25
- References
- 36
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 5 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 10.29
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- BMC Psychiatry (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- 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
- internet gaming disorder, impulsivity, risk preferences, risk appetite, motor impulsiveness, medical students, sex differences, compensatory hypothesis, mediating effect, gaming time
- MeSH terms
- Internet Addiction Disorder, Female, Humans, Impulsive Behavior, Male, Students, Medical, Behavior, Addictive, Video Games, Internet
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