The influence of game genre and life satisfaction on Internet Gaming Disorder among Dutch adolescents: A three-year longitudinal study

Abstract

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is a relatively new construct which measures addiction to online games. Because there is little longitudinal research done on IGD and its predictors, this study investigated whether game genre and life satisfaction influences the development of IGD-symptoms and if so, to what extent time spent gaming mediates this relationship. This was investigated in a longitudinal sample of 385 adolescents in secondary education (Mage=14.8, SDage=.75; 49% male), in the Netherlands. Data was collected through a digital survey in classrooms. Results show that the genre Browser/Cell phone protects adolescents against the development of IGD-symptoms (both cross-sectional and longitudinal) and it also leads to a decrease in time spent gaming (longitudinal). In addition, time spent gaming mediates the relationship between the genre Browser/Cell phone and IGD-symptoms (longitudinally). Furthermore, a lower life satisfaction leads to more IGD-symptoms (both cross-sectional and longitudinal) while it also leads to more time spent gaming (cross-sectional). Lastly, time spent gaming does not mediate the relationship between life satisfaction and IGD-symptoms (cross-sectional). These results show that more attention should be given to the predictors of IGD.