Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 1, 2025

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Online Gamers
Published on: November 9, 2019
Alexithymia in gaming addiction and engagement
Lukas Blinka1, Anna Faltýnková1, Karel Rečka1
1Psychology Research Institute, Faculty of Social Studies, Masaryk University, Czech Republic.
Background:
It has been suggested that alexithymia plays a significant role in substance and behavioral addictions. However, only a handful of studies investigated this construct in relation to gaming addiction, and no study analyzed its differential effect on gaming engagement and addiction.
Methods:
A total of u adult gamers (Mage = 26.04, SD = 5.78, 94 % male) completed a questionnaire that included the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (and its subscales of difficulty identifying feelings, difficulty describing feelings, and externally oriented thinking), the Addiction-Engagement Questionnaire, and additional questions about gender, age, and time spent gaming. Structural equation modeling was used as the main analytical strategy.
Results:
Difficulty identifying feelings (β = 0.28) and externally oriented thinking (β = 0.19) showed a significant positive effect on gaming addiction. Contrary to addiction, externally oriented thinking showed a significant negative effect (β = -0.21) on gaming engagement. No other alexithymia subscales were significant. The model with alexithymia explained 32.7 % of the variance in gaming addiction while only 10.4 % of gaming engagement.
Conclusions:
Alexithymia is a strong predictor of gaming addiction. Gaming engagement seems to be a qualitatively different phenomenon that shows an opposite association with alexithymia than gaming addiction. However, both are related to increased time spent gaming. This suggests a need to distinguish between problematic vs. non-problematic excessive gaming as they have different associations with affect dysregulation.
Related Concept Videos
Drug Abuse and Addiction: Pharmacological Phenomena
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Self-Presentation: Self-Monitoring and Self-Handicapping
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...
High-Level and Low-Level Awareness
Self-Evaluation: Self-Enhancement and Self-Verification

