Need for systematic screening for IGD in adolescent psychiatric inpatients

Area of Science:

• Psychiatry
• Adolescent Health
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Psychiatric comorbidities are common in adolescents with internet gaming disorder (IGD).
• The prevalence of IGD among adolescents hospitalized for psychiatric disorders remains undocumented.
• Parental assessment of IGD could aid diagnosis, but data are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of IGD in adolescent psychiatric inpatients using the IGDT-10.
• To evaluate a newly developed parental version of the IGD test (IGDT-10-P).

Main Methods:

• 102 adolescent psychiatric inpatients (12-17 years) from four French units participated.
• Adolescents completed the IGDT-10; parents completed the IGDT-10-P.
• Study achieved a 57.95% inclusion rate over a 6-month period.

Main Results:

• IGD prevalence was 6.00% based on self-report (IGDT-10) and 12.79% based on parental report (IGDT-10-P).
• The IGDT-10-P demonstrated excellent internal consistency and good model fit.
• Parental IGDT-10-P correlated strongly with gaming time and moderately with self-reported IGDT-10.

Conclusions:

• Systematic screening for internet gaming disorder is warranted in adolescents admitted for psychiatric care.
• A notable prevalence gap exists between self- and parent-reported IGD criteria.
• Further research is needed to confirm and elucidate this prevalence discrepancy.