The emerging evidence on the association between symptoms of ADHD and gaming disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Clin Psychol Rev. 2023 Sep 28;106:102343. doi: 10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102343. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTThe co-existence of gaming disorder (GD) with other mental health problems has been widely reported. Despite the growing research interest in the comorbidity of GD with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), to date, no quantitative synthesis has been performed. The present study comprised a systematic literature search using Scopus, Science Direct, Web of Science, and PubMed databases. Three types of studies were included in the analyses: studies reporting (i) correlation coefficients between the symptoms of GD and ADHD, (ii) means, and standard deviations for comparison of GD severity between ADHD/non-ADHD individuals, and (iii) comparison of ADHD severity between GD/non-GD individuals. The results indicated a moderate relationship between GD and ADHD symptom severity when both subdomains of ADHD were combined (r = 0.296), and also when only inattention (r = 0.306) or hyperactivity (r = 0.266) symptoms were analyzed, which was also confirmed in a structural equation model meta-analysis. Studies showed a large average difference comparing the GD symptom severity of ADHD and non-ADHD individuals (g = 0.693), or ADHD symptom severity of GD and non-GD individuals (g = 0.854). In some cases, higher estimates of association were reported among studies that (i) had a higher proportion of males, (ii) assessed problematic internet use among predominantly videogame player...
Source: Clinical Psychology Review - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Source Type: research