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Hindi Research Article, J Addict Behav Ther Rehabil Vol: 4 Issue: 1
Pathological Video Game Use among Young Swiss Men: The Use of Monothetic and Polythetic Formats to Distinguish Between Pathological, Excessive and Normal Gaming
| Stéphanie Baggio1,2*, Joseph Studer2, Marc Dupuis1, Meichun Mohler-Kuo3, Jean-Bernard Daeppen2 and Gerhard Gmel2,4-6 | |
| 1University of Lausanne, Geopolis building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland | |
| 2Alcohol Treatment Center, Lausanne University Hospital CHUV, Av. Beaumont 21 bis, Pavillon 2, CH - 1011 Lausanne, Switzerland | |
| 3Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Zurich, Hirschengraben 84, 8001 Zurich, Switzerland | |
| 4Swiss Institute for the Prevention of Alcohol and Drug Problems, Case postale 870, CH - 1001 Lausanne, Switzerland | |
| 5Center for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College St, Toronto, Ontario, M5T 1R8, Canada | |
| 6University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus Coldharbour Lane, Bristol BS16 1QY, United Kingdom | |
| Corresponding author : Stéphanie Baggio University of Lausanne, Geopolis building, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland Tel: +41 21 692 37 11 E-mail: stephanie.baggio@unil.ch |
|
| Received: August 22, 2014 Accepted: January 27, 2015 Published: January 29, 2015 | |
| Citation: Baggio S, Studer J, Dupuis M, Mohler-Kuo M, Daeppen JB, et al. (2015) Pathological Video Game Use among Young Swiss Men: The Use of Monothetic and Polythetic Formats to Distinguish Between Pathological, Excessive and Normal Gaming. J Addict Behav Ther Rehabil 4:1. doi:10.4172/2324-9005.1000133 |
Abstract
Pathological Video Game Use among Young Swiss Men: The Use of Monothetic and Polythetic Formats to Distinguish Between Pathological, Excessive and Normal Gaming
There is no agreement about the distinction between pathological, excessive and normal gaming. The present study compared two classifications for defining pathological gaming: the polythetic format (gamers who met at least half of the criteria) and monothetic format (gamers who met all criteria). Associations with mental, health and social issues were examined to assess differences between subgroups of gamers. A representative sample of 5,663 young Swiss men filled in a questionnaire as part of the ongoing Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (C-SURF). Game use was assessed with the Game Addiction Scale. Mental, social and physical factors (depression, anxiety, aggressiveness, physical and mental health, social and health consequences), gambling and substance use (illicit drug use, alcohol dependence and problematic cannabis use) were also assessed. The results indicated that monothetic gamers shared problems with polythetic gamers, but were even more inclined to mental health issues (depression, anxiety, and aggressiveness) and were more vulnerable to other dependencies like substance use, alcohol dependence or gambling. A second analysis using Latent Class Analysis confirmed the distinction between monothetic and polythetic gamers. These findings support the use of a monothetic format to diagnose pathological gaming and to differentiate it from excessive gaming.
