By Gavin Boyle
A recent study revealed that gamers who develop a video game addiction in adolescence are the most likely to incur the long-term effects of the past time.
“This seminal study provides one of the most detailed pictures yet of how gaming disorder emerges and evolves during adolescence,” said Dr. Daria Kuss, a co-author of the study and an Associate Professor of Psychology at Nottingham Trent University’s School of Social Sciences.
“While most young people game without harm, a significant minority are at risk of developing patterns of play that can disrupt their lives, education, and well-being,” Dr. Kuss continued. “Our findings underscore the importance of early, age-appropriate interventions to prevent internet gaming disorder from taking hold during the critical teenage years.”
Related: Can You Beat a Gaming Addiction?
The study found that children did not face a high risk of developing gaming disorders regardless of their involvement in gaming until around the age of 12 through 18. Their involvement with games during those crucial years, though, largely determined if serious symptoms would present themselves later in their lives.
Gaming addiction was first recognized as a diagnosable mental health disorder by the World Health Organization in 2019. Since then, numerous studies have been performed to determine how the addiction takes hold, how it can be prevented and how it can be treated.
While many have been quick to blame the game development studios for creating addictive programs that lead to this disorder, a study from September suggests that underlying mental health issues are often the cause of gaming disorder, rather than the games themselves.
“We’ve known for some time that gaming disorder exists, but we’re also known that not every gamer develops the disorder,” said Kylie Falcione, a brain scientist at UC Santa Barbara who worked on the study. “So the question that a lot of researchers have been asking about is what drives people to develop a gaming disorder. Is it the addictive nature of all these rewards and punishments of the video games themselves? Or is it that some people have preexisting conditions or personal core characteristics that are leading them to develop a gaming disorder?”
Falcione’s study suggests the latter, as gaming is often used as a coping mechanism for other mental health problems, turning the past time into an addiction. This study, combined with the new study revealing gaming disorder most often takes root in the early teenage years opens up the door for those fighting the problem to properly care for teens during critical years to save them from the disease.
At the same time, parents should be wary of their teenagers excessively engaging with video games, as their decisions during their teenage years could lead to many addiction-related problems down the road if not treated properly early on.
Read Next: Is Gaming Actually More Harmful Than We Thought?
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