Geir Scott Brunborg

Development of a Facebook Addiction Scale.

The Bergen Facebook Addiction Scale (BFAS), initially a pool of 18 items, three reflecting each of the six core elements of addiction (salience, mood modification, tolerance, withdrawal, conflict, and relapse), was constructed and administered to 423 students together with several other standardized self-report scales (Addictive Tendencies Scale, Online Sociability Scale, Facebook Attitude Scale, NEO–FFI, BIS/BAS scales, and Sleep questions). That item within each of the six addiction elements with the highest corrected item-total correlation was retained in the final scale. The factor structure of the scale was good (RMSEA = .046, CFI = .99) and coefficient alpha was .83. The 3-week test-retest reliability coefficient was .82. The scores converged with scores for other scales of Facebook activity. Also, they were positively related to Neuroticism and Extraversion, and negatively related to Conscientiousness. High scores on the new scale were associated with delayed bedtimes and rising times.

Problematic Video Game Use: Estimated Prevalence and Associations with Mental and Physical Health

A nationwide survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of video game addiction and problematic video game use and their association with physical and mental health. An initial sample comprising 2,500 individuals was randomly selected from the Norwegian National Registry. A total of 816 (34.0 percent) individuals completed and returned the questionnaire. The majority (56.3 percent) of respondents used video games on a regular basis. The prevalence of video game addiction was estimated to be 0.6 percent, with problematic use of video games reported by 4.1 percent of the sample. Gender (male) and age group (young) were strong predictors for problematic use of video games. A higher proportion of high frequency compared with low frequency players preferred massively multiplayer online role-playing games, although the majority of high frequency players preferred other game types. Problematic use of video games was associated with lower scores on life satisfaction and with elevated levels of anxiety and depression. Video game use was not associated with reported amount of physical exercise.

Is video gaming, or video game addiction, associated with depression, academic achievement, heavy episodic drinking, or conduct problems?

Background and aims: While the relationships between video game use and negative consequences are debated, the relationships between video game addiction and negative consequences are fairly well established. However, previous studies suffer from methodological weaknesses that may have caused biased results. There is need for further investigation that benefits from the use of methods that avoid omitted variable bias. Methods: Two wave panel data was used from two surveys of 1,928 Norwegian adolescents aged 13 to 17 years. The surveys included measures of video game use, video game addiction, depression, heavy episodic drinking, academic achievement, and conduct problems. The data was analyzed using first-differencing, a regression method that is unbiased by time invariant individual factors. Results: Video game addiction was related to depression, lower academic achievement, and conduct problems, but time spent on video games was not related to any of the studied negative outcomes. Discussion: The findings were in line with a growing number of studies that have failed to find relationships between time spent on video games and negative outcomes. The current study is also consistent with previous studies in that video game addiction was related to other negative outcomes, but it made the added contribution that the relationships are unbiased by time invariant individual effects. However, future research should aim at establishing the temporal order of the supposed causal effects. Conclusions: Spending time playing video games does not involve negative consequences, but adolescents who experience problems related to video games are likely to also experience problems in other facets of life.

Core Self-Evaluations : A Predictor Variable for Job Stress

Core self-evaluations (CSE), a personality construct underlying self-esteem, locus of control, generalized self-efficacy, and neuroticism, has previously been found to relate strongly to job satisf...

The relationship between media use in the bedroom, sleep habits and symptoms of insomnia

This postal questionnaire study investigated the use of media in the bedroom and its relationships with sleep habits and symptoms of insomnia. The sample comprised 2500 individuals aged 16–40 years drawn randomly from the Norwegian national register. A total of 816 (34.0%) completed and returned the questionnaire. Respondents were asked how often they used computers, television sets, DVD players, game consoles and mobile telephones and listened to music/radio in their bedrooms. They also reported sleep habits on weekdays and at weekends/days off and symptoms of insomnia. After controlling for gender, age, anxiety and depression, the respondents who used a computer in the bedroom ‘often’ compared to ‘rarely’ rose later on weekdays and at weekends/days off, turned off the lights to go to sleep later at weekends/days off, slept more hours at weekends/days off and had a greater discrepancy between turning off the lights to go to sleep on weekdays and at weekends/days off. Respondents who used a mobile telephone in their bedrooms at night ‘often’ compared to ‘rarely’ turned off the lights to go to sleep later on weekdays and at weekends/days off, and rose later at weekends/days off. No such differences were found with the use of the other media. There were also no significant differences in symptoms of insomnia. This study indicates that the use of computers and mobile telephones in the bedroom are related to poor sleep habits, but that media use in the bedroom seems to be unrelated to symptoms of insomnia.

Gaming Addiction, Gaming Engagement, and Psychological Health Complaints Among Norwegian Adolescents

Distinguishing high engagement with games from gaming addiction has been a challenge for researchers. We present evidence that an established self-report instrument can be used to distinguish addicted gamers from highly engaged gamers. The study used data from the World Health Organizations survey, Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children. A nationally representative sample of Norwegian eighth graders completed the Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents. Respondents who endorsed all four of the core criteria for addiction (relapse, withdrawal, conflict, and problems) were categorized as addicted gamers. Respondents who endorsed two or three of the core criteria were categorized as problem gamers. Those who endorsed all three peripheral criteria (salience, tolerance, and mood modification), but not more than one of the addiction criteria, were categorized as highly engaged gamers. Controlling for gender and physical exercise, gaming addicts and problem gamers had greater risk of feeling low, feeling irritable or in a bad mood, feeling nervous, feeling tired and exhausted, and feeling afraid. The highly engaged gamers did not have greater risk of psychological health complaints. This suggests that it is possible to distinguish addicted and problem gamers with psychological health complaints from adolescents who are merely highly engaged gamers.

Problem gambling and the five-factor model of personality: A large population-based study

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Knowledge of the personality characteristics of individuals who develop gambling problems is important for designing targeted prevention efforts. Previous studies of the relationship between the five-factor model of personality and gambling problems were based on small samples not representative of the general population. We estimated differences in neuroticism, extroversion, intellect, agreeableness and conscientiousness between non-problem gamblers and individuals with low, moderate and severe gambling problems. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey. SETTING Norway. PARTICIPANTS A total of 10 081 (51.5% female) individuals aged 16-74 years (mean age 46.5 years). MEASURES The Problem Gambling Severity Index, The Mini-International Personality Item Pool and demographic variables. Differences between groups of gamblers were analysed by ordinary least-squares regression models separately for each personality trait adjusting for gender, age, cohabitation, level of education and work status. FINDINGS Gamblers with low, moderate and severe levels of gambling problems differed significantly from non-problem gamblers in neuroticism (b = 0.16, 0.34 and 0.66, respectively, all P < 0.001) and conscientiousness (b = -0.13, -0.28 and -0.44, respectively, all P < 0.001). Moderate and severe problem gamblers differed from non-problem gamblers in agreeableness (b = -0.21, P < 0.001 and b = -0.20, P = 0.028, respectively). In addition, gambling problems were much more prevalent among men than women, and more prevalent among those who live alone, individuals without tertiary education and among those who are unemployed or on disability pension. CONCLUSIONS A higher level of problem gambling severity appears to be associated with higher scores on neuroticism, and with lower scores on conscientiousness and agreeableness in the Mini-International Personality Item Pool.

Core and Peripheral Criteria of Video Game Addiction in the Game Addiction Scale for Adolescents

Abstract Assessment of video game addiction often involves measurement of peripheral criteria that indicate high engagement with games, and core criteria that indicate problematic use of games. A survey of the Norwegian population aged 16–74 years (N=10,081, response rate 43.6%) was carried out in 2013, which included the Gaming Addiction Scale for Adolescents (GAS). Confirmatory factor analysis showed that a two-factor structure, which separated peripheral criteria from core criteria, fitted the data better (CFI=0.963; RMSEA=0.058) compared to the original one-factor solution where all items are determined to load only on one factor (CFI=0.905, RMSEA=0.089). This was also found when we analyzed men aged ≤33 years, men aged >33 years, women aged ≤33 years, and women aged >33 years separately. This indicates that the GAS measures both engagement and problems related to video games. Multi-group measurement invariance testing showed that the factor structure was valid in all four groups (configural invariance) for the two-factor structure but not for the one-factor structure. A novel approach to categorization of problem gamers and addicted gamers where only the core criteria items are used (the CORE 4 approach) was compared to the approach where all items are included (the GAS 7 approach). The current results suggest that the CORE 4 approach might be more appropriate for classification of problem gamers and addicted gamers compared to the GAS 7 approach.

Social Media Use and Episodic Heavy Drinking Among Adolescents

Objectives Little is known about the consequences of adolescent social media use. The current study estimated the association between the amount of time adolescents spend on social media and the risk of episodic heavy drinking. Methods A school-based self-report cross-sectional study including 851 Norwegian middle and high school students (46.1% boys). Measures: frequency and quantity of social media use. Frequency of drinking four or six (girls and boys, respectively) alcoholic drinks during a single day (episodic heavy drinking). The MacArthur Scale of Subjective Social Status, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale – Brief, the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale, the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 items for Adolescents, the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire Peer Relationship problems scale, gender, and school grade. Results Greater amount of time spent on social media was associated with greater likelihood of episodic heavy drinking among adolescents (OR = 1.12, 95% CI (1.05, 1.19), p = 0.001), even after adjusting for school grade, impulsivity, sensation seeking, symptoms of depression, and peer relationship problems. Conclusion The results from the current study indicate that more time spent on social media is related to greater likelihood of episodic heavy drinking among adolescents.

Description and pre-post evaluation of a telephone and Internet based treatment programme for pathological gambling in Norway: a pilot study

Although the effectiveness of treatments for pathological gamblers is gaining support, only 10% of pathological gamblers seek treatment. Providing treatment via the Internet may lower the thresholds for treatment seeking. A new telephone and Internet based treatment programme for pathological gamblers is presented in this article, along with a pre-post evaluation of the programme. The participants (N = 112) were problem gamblers who were either self-referred or referred by their general practitioner. Data from post-treatment and 3-month follow-up are evaluated. The results suggest that using Internet and telephone-assisted treatment interventions can significantly reduce symptoms of pathological gambling (measured by the South Oaks Gambling Screen – Revised). The intervention was also associated with improvement on cognitive distortions, measured by the Gamblers Belief Questionnaire, and general psychological distress and psychopathology as measured by the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised. Although Internet-based treatment programmes have been suggested to have advantages compared to traditional face-to-face therapy, research in this area is scarce. This pilot study contributes to the growing literature in this area, and provides tentative support for the effectiveness of Internet based treatment interventions for pathological gamblers.