Estimated Prevalence of Unreported IGD Cases in Routine Outpatient Children and Adolescent Psychotherapy

Sonja Kewitz, Eva Vonderlin, Lutz Wartberg and Katajun Lindenberg
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Sonja Kewitz: Institute of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Eva Vonderlin: Centre for Psychological Psychotherapy Heidelberg, Heidelberg University, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Lutz Wartberg: Department of Psychology, Faculty of Human Sciences, MSH Medical School Hamburg, 20457 Hamburg, Germany
Katajun Lindenberg: Institute of Psychology, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-10

Abstract: Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) has been included in the DSM-5 as a diagnosis for further study, and Gaming Disorder as a new diagnosis in the ICD-11. Nonetheless, little is known about the clinical prevalence of IGD in children and adolescents. Additionally, it is unclear if patients with IGD are already identified in routine psychotherapy, using the ICD-10 diagnosis F 63.8 (recommended classification of IGD in ICD-10). This study investigated N = 358 children and adolescents (self and parental rating) of an outpatient psychotherapy centre in Germany using the Video Game Dependency Scale. According to self-report 4.0% of the 11- to 17-year-old patients met criteria for a tentative IGD diagnosis and 14.0% according to the parental report. Of the 5- to 10-year-old patients, 4.1% were diagnosed with tentative IGD according to parental report. Patients meeting IGD criteria were most frequently diagnosed with hyperkinetic disorders, followed by anxiety disorders, F 63.8, conduct disorders, mood disorders and obsessive-compulsive disorders (descending order) as primary clinical diagnoses. Consequently, this study indicates that a significant amount of the clinical population presents IGD. Meaning, appropriate diagnostics should be included in routine psychological diagnostics in order to avoid “hidden” cases of IGD in the future.

Keywords: Internet Gaming Disorder; prevalence; children; adolescents; clinical diagnoses; clinical sample; comorbidities; F 63.8 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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