Confusion in Gaming Disorder Measurement

One of the key areas in the scientific programs of addictive behaviors is the research on measurement. In the present study, we focus on the survey measurement of gaming disorder. In particular, we tested the gambling hypotheses: whether survey studies on gaming disorder are potentially contaminated by gambling behavior data and thus do not reflect actual gaming behaviors. A systematic review of survey materials among the most cited studies (N=500) provided confirmatory evidence for a systematic error in the literature. The majority of research in the field is contaminated by a measurement error stemming from conceptual confusion. This problem is linguistic and does not concern all languages to the same degree. Additionally, we surveyed English (n=312) and Slovak (n=319) people to explore further reasons for the error. Exploration revealed various terminological confusions in both languages. For instance, half of the participants (EN=48.7%/SK=59.1%) interpreted “gambling” to also refer to “gaming”, including offline gambling like poker (EN=68.6%/SK=62.5%). Meanwhile, the majority interpreted offline activities like board games (EN=50.3%/SK=62%) to be gaming too. The findings suggest that the systematic measurement error is unlikely to be easily correctable through self-report instructions, as people interpret gaming and gambling in many inconsistent ways. We recommend gaming disorder research to seek alternatives to survey data.