Empathy, Social Self-Efficacy, Problematic Internet Use, and Problematic Online Gaming Between Early and Late Adolescence.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between empathy, social self-efficacy, problematic Internet use (PIU), and problematic online gaming (POG) and to evaluate how such relationship varies according to the age of the participants. A sample of 1,585 Italian students, both genders, aged 12-20 years, were divided into three groups according to the age filled in these self-report questionnaires: PIU; Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents; Interpersonal Reactivity Index; Scale of Social Self-Efficacy; Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire. The results allow to confirm that in the Italian context the relationships between the examined constructs change across the three age groups considered in the study.