Gaming Intensity, Problematic Gambling and Gaming

Problematic video gaming and gambling were shown to have many mental health consequences. However, when accounting for gaming intensity, does a relationship between esports betting, problematic video gaming and gambling, and mental health exist?

Studies have found that individuals betting on esports tend to be younger and male, wager on a greater number of activities, and play video games and watch esports regularly. Recent research has also shown that the rate of problematic participation in both gambling and gaming is higher among young people. Between 0.2 and 12.3% report problem gambling and 3-10% report problem video gaming.

PG (Problematic Gambling) and PVG (Problematic Video Gaming) are associated with a number of mental health problems, such as depression, anxiety, impaired sleep, increased substance use, and aggression. It's not surprising that both PG and PVG are also associated with higher frequencies in gambling and gaming.

"That is, those who participate more frequently and more intensely (i.e., larger bets, longer gaming sessions) in these activities are more likely to endorse symptoms of PG and PVG." [1]

Today's study looks at a specific sample of people, namely those who gambled and played video games the past year. In total, data from 1,348 adolescents were analyzed. The researchers were interested in the effect of the frequency of gambling and video gaming (how often/much they play) on internalized (e.g., depression, anxiety, low self-esteem) and externalized (e.g., inattention/hyperactivity, conduct problems) problems among adolescents.

🎲 Gambling, Mental Health, and Gaming Intensity

First, the frequency of sports betting was associated with internalizing and externalizing problems through problematic gambling. Meaning, sports betting was significantly related to PG, which, in turn, was significantly linked to internalizing and externalizing problems.

Second, esports betting and video game intensity were also significantly associated with internalizing and externalizing behaviors, but this time through problematic video gaming.

"[Third,] esports participation, results indicate that youth who engage in more frequent esports betting are more likely to report symptoms of PVG, which in turn, result in greater externalizing and internalizing problems." [1]

According to the researchers, the results suggest that adolescents who experience mental health symptoms as a result of esports betting likely do not experience these as a direct result of their betting behavior. Instead, mental health problems may be a consequence of problematic video gaming symptoms.

"[Similarly, for adolescents reporting a greater intensity of gaming], these results suggest that it is the presence of symptoms such as feeling preoccupied with one’s gaming, losing interest in hobbies or other activities, and needing to spend greater amounts of time gaming to achieve satisfaction, which result in greater externalizing and internalizing problems." [1]

Interestingly, the researchers also found that esports betting was not associated with problematic gambling. They, however, notice that this finding is in contrast to other studies that did find a link.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all have a great week. Cheers,

Christian 🙂

P.S. Sorry for the belated episode. I have a lot of stuff do to recently.

References

[1] Marchica et al., 2021