Ontological diversity in gaming disorder measurement: a nationally representative registered report

Gaming-related health problems have been researched since the 1980s with numerous different ontologies as reference systems, from self-assessed ‘game addiction’ to ‘pathological gambling’ (in Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders [DSM]-IV), ‘internet gaming disorder’ third section DSM-5) most recently ‘gaming International Classification Diseases [ICD]-11). Our goal was investigate how screening instruments that derive differ in identifying associated problem groups. By using four central instruments, each representing a ontological basis, we hypothesized differences similarities prevalence, overlap, health. A nationally representative (N = 8217) sample Finnish participants collected. The produced significantly prevalence rates (from 0.4% 6.9%) binomial probabilities group overlap ranged poor (0.419) good (0.919). Expectedly, groups had lower mental than general population, yet exploratory analyses implied equivalent or higher physical We also found strong evidence for mischievous responding complicate measurement problems. Considering several major were confirmed between constructs, recommend researchers clearly define their construct interest, i.e. whether they are studying ICD-11 based official disorder, DSM-5 proposed disorder’, other problems—especially future meta-analyses.