Internet Gaming Disorder: Evidence for a Risk and Resilience Approach.

Although previous research has noted a range of factors that predict developing Problematic Video Game Use (PVGU) and Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD), few studies have looked at risk and protective factors together, and there is scant empirical evidence examining whether risk for PVGU or IGD increases or decreases as risk or protective factors accumulate in the individual. The aim of the current study was to examine both issues using predictors from three demonstrated PVGU and IGD risk categories: executive dysfunction, unmet needs in everyday life, and unhelpful family environment. In a survey of N = 866 12-17-year-old school students, the risk/protective factors that most strongly predicted severity of IGD symptomology and meeting IGD diagnostic criteria were self-control and social exclusion.