SCIENTIFIC STUDIES

Selected Academic Papers

AK Przybylski & N Weinstein

August 2019

INVESTIGATING THE MOTIVATIONAL AND PSYCHOSOCIAL DYNAMICS OF DYSREGULATED GAMING: EVIDENCE FROM A PREREGISTERED COHORT STUDY

The American Psychiatric Association (APA) and World Health Organization (WHO) have called for research investigating the clinical relevance of dysregulated video-game play. A growing number of exploratory studies have applied self-determination theory to probe the psychological dynamics of problematic gaming, but little is known about these dynamics in adolescents—the targets of most concerns—or the extent to which dysregulated gaming, in turn, affects functioning. In our study of British adolescents and their caregivers (n = 2,008), we adopted a confirmatory lens to test the extent to which basic psychological need satisfactions and frustrations underlie dysfunctional gaming behavior. The results, in line with preregistered sampling and data-analysis plans, indicated the frustrations, but not the absence of satisfactions, of psychological needs predicted adolescents’ dysregulated gaming and psychosocial functioning. Our discussion focuses on the clinical significance of gaming dysregulation and the advantages of transparent scientific practices for research informed by, and meant to inform, APA and WHO guidance.

A Orben TD Dienlin & AK Przybylski

May 2019

SOCIAL MEDIA’S ENDURING EFFECT ON ADOLESCENT LIFE SATISFACTION

In this study, we used large-scale representative panel data to disentangle the between-person and within-person relations linking adolescent social media use and well-being. We found that social media use is not, in and of itself, a strong predictor of life satisfaction across the adolescent population. Instead, social media effects are nuanced, small at best, reciprocal over time, gender specific, and contingent on analytic methods.

AK Przybylski & N Weinstein

January 2017

A LARGE-SCALE TEST OF THE GOLDILOCKS HYPOTHESIS: QUANTIFYING THE RELATIONS BETWEEN DIGITAL-SCREEN USE AND THE MENTAL WELL-BEING OF ADOLESCENTS

Although the time adolescents spend with digital technologies has sparked widespread concerns that their use might be negatively associated with mental well-being, these potential deleterious influences have not been rigorously studied. Using a preregistered plan for analyzing data collected from a representative sample of English adolescents (n = 120,115), we obtained evidence that the links between digital-screen time and mental well-being are described by quadratic functions. Further, our results showed that these links vary as a function of when digital technologies are used (i.e., weekday vs. weekend), suggesting that a full understanding of the impact of these recreational activities will require examining their functionality among other daily pursuits. Overall, the evidence indicated that moderate use of digital technology is not intrinsically harmful and may be advantageous in a connected world. The findings inform recommendations for limiting adolescents’ technology use and provide a template for conducting rigorous investigations into the relations between digital technology and children’s and adolescents’ health.

AK Przybylski N Weinstein & K Murayama

November 2016

INTERNET GAMING DISORDER: INVESTIGATING THE CLINICAL RELEVANCE OF A NEW PHENOMENON

The American Psychiatric Association identified Internet Gaming Disorder as a new potential psychiatric disorder and has recognized that little is known about the prevalence, validity, or cross-cultural robustness of proposed Internet Gaming Disorder criteria. In response to this gap in our understanding, this project estimated the period prevalence of this new potential psychiatric disorder using APA guidance, examined the validity of its proposed indicators, evaluated reliability cross-culturally and across genders, compared it to gold-standard research on gambling addiction and problem gaming, and estimated its impact on physical, social, and mental health. To do so, in a first for this research topic, four survey studies (n = 18,932) with large international cohorts employed an open-science methodology wherein the analysis plans for confirmatory hypotheses were registered prior to data collection. Results showed that of those who play games, more than 2 in 3, did not report any symptoms of Internet Gaming Disorder, and findings showed a very small proportion of the general population – between 0.3% and 1.0% – might qualify for a potential acute diagnosis of Internet Gaming Disorder. Comparison to Gambling Disorder revealed that Internet-based games may be significantly less addictive than gambling and similarly dysregulating as electronic games more generally. The evidence linking Internet Gaming Disorder to game engagement was strong, but links to physical, social, and mental health outcomes were decidedly mixed.

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EARLIER

Selected Academic Papers Published Before 2016