Technology-mediated addictive behaviors constitute a spectrum of related yet distinct conditions: A network perspective (2018)

  
 Document type :Scientific journals : Article 
 Discipline(s) :Social & behavioral sciences, psychology : Treatment & clinical psychology 
 To cite this reference:http://hdl.handle.net/10993/35563 
   

 

Title :Technology-mediated addictive behaviors constitute a spectrum of related yet distinct conditions: A network perspective
Language :English
Author, co-author :Baggio, Stéphanie []
 Starcevic, Vladan []
 Studer, Joseph []
 Simon, Olivier []
 Gainsbury, Sally M. []
 Gmel, Gerhard []
 Billieux, Joël mailto[University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education (FLSHASE) > Integrative Research Unit: Social and Individual Development (INSIDE) >]
Publication date :In press
Journal title :Psychology of Addictive Behaviors : Journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors
Publisher :Educational Publishing Foundation
Peer reviewed :Yes
Audience :International
ISSN :0893-164X
City :Washington
Country :DC
Keywords :[en] Internet Addiction ; Network Analysis ; Cybersex ; Video Gaming ; Spectrum Hypothesis ; Mobile phone
Abstract [en] An important ongoing debate in the addiction field is whether certain technologymediated behaviors constitute tenable and independent constructs. This study investigated whether problematic technology-mediated behaviors could be conceptualized as a spectrum of related, yet distinct disorders (spectrum hypothesis), using the network approach that considers disorders as networks of symptoms. We
used data from the Cohort Study on Substance Use and Risk Factors (C-SURF), with a representative sample of young Swiss men (subsample of participants engaged in technology-mediated behaviors, n=3,404). Four technology-mediated addictive behaviors were investigated using symptoms derived from the DSM-5 and the component model of addiction: Internet, smartphone, gaming, and cybersex. Network analyses included network estimation and visualization, community detection tests, and centrality indices. The network analysis identified four distinct clusters corresponding to each condition, but only Internet addiction had numerous relationships with the other behaviors. This finding, along with the finding that there were few relationships between the other behaviors, suggests that smartphone addiction, gaming addiction, and cybersex addiction are relatively independent constructs. Internet addiction was often connected with other conditions through the same symptoms, suggesting that it could be conceptualized as an “umbrella construct,” i.e., a common vector that mediates specific online behaviors. The network analysis thus provides a preliminary support to the spectrum hypothesis andthe focus on the specific activities performed online, while showing that the construct of “Internet addiction” is inadequate.
Permalink :http://hdl.handle.net/10993/35563