Reconsidering item response categories in gaming disorder symptoms measurement

Bibliographic Data

ID21882170
AuthorsDaniel L King (0000-0002-1762-2581, Flinders University, corresponding author), Abel Nogueira López (0000-0001-6761-2907, Universidad de León), Christina Galanis (0000-0002-9612-4192, Flinders University), Toshitaka Hamamura (0000-0002-0719-1001, Flinders University), Christian Bäcklund (0000-0003-4813-0309, Luleå University of Technology), Alessandro Giardina (0000-0001-6313-4290, University of Lausanne), Joël Billieux (0000-0002-7388-6194, Addiction Switzerland), P Delfabbro (0000-0002-0466-5611, The University of Adelaide)
Year2023
Volume12
Issue4
Pages873-877
Publication date2023-12-22
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Behavioral Addictions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2062-5871 • E-ISSN: 2063-5303
PublisherAkademiai Kiado Zrt. (PUBLISHER • HU)
DOI10.1556/2006.2023.00070
PMID38047934
OpenAlexW4389311945
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited12

Gaming disorder (GD) screening often involves self-report survey measures to detect the presence of symptoms. Studies have shown that gamers' responses vary greatly across survey items. Some symptoms, such as preoccupation and tolerance, are frequently reported by highly engaged but non-problematic gamers, and therefore these symptoms are thought to lack specificity and are suggested to be less important in classification decisions. We argue that the influence of response categories (e.g., dichotomous responses, such as ‘yes’ or ‘no’; or frequency categories, such as ‘rarely’ and ‘often’) on item responses has been relatively underexplored despite potentially contributing significantly to the psychometric performance of items and scales. In short, the type of item response may be just as important to symptom reporting as the content of survey questions. We propose some practical alternatives to currently used item categories across GD tools. Research should examine the performance of different response categories, including whether certain response categories aid respondents' comprehension and insight, and better capture pathological behaviours and harms

Cognitive psychology · Comprehension · Item response theory · Psychometrics · Child Development and Digital Technology · Clinical Psychology · Gambling Behavior and Treatments · Impact of Technology on Adolescents · Psychology

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Open DOIOpen Access