Gaming addiction and perceived stress among Saudi adolescents

Ahmad Mamoun Rajab; Mohamed Saddik Zaghloul; Saed Enabi; Tawfik Mamoun Rajab; Abdullah Murhaf Al-Khani; Abdulrahman Basalah; Sara Wafik Alchalati; Joud Enabi; Saadi Aljundi; Syed Muhammad Baqui Billah; Juliann Saquib; AbdulRahman AlMazrou; Nazmus Saquib

doi:10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100261

Gaming addiction and perceived stress among Saudi adolescents

Addict Behav Rep. 2020 Feb 4:11:100261. doi: 10.1016/j.abrep.2020.100261. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Affiliations

¹ College of Medicine, Sulaiman Al Rajhi Colleges, P.O. Box 777, Bukairyah, Al-Qassim 51941, Saudi Arabia.
² College of Medicine, Al Faisal University, P.O. Box 50927, Takhasusi Road, Riyadh 11533, Saudi Arabia.

Abstract

Introduction: Adolescents (age: 10-19 years) make up 15% of the Saudi population and have easy access to electronic gadgets and the Internet, yet data on gaming addiction among adolescents are negligible. We aimed to determine the prevalence of gaming addiction and its association with stress among Saudi school students.

Methods: In this cross-sectional survey, 2675 school students (grades 7-12) from 40 randomly selected schools in four main cities of Al-Qassim province in Saudi Arabia participated. The questionnaire inquired about demography, lifestyle, gaming addiction (7-item Game Addiction Scale), and stress (10-item Perceived Stress Scale). Multinomial logistic regression assessed the association between gaming addiction (yes, no) and stress (high, moderate, low).

Results: Participants' mean age was 16.1 (SD = 1.6) years; 50% were female; 64% reported >3 h of daily screen time; 5% were addicted to gaming; 11.4% had high-level stress. Addiction to gaming was strongly associated with stress in the adjusted analysis (moderate OR = 6.7, 95% CI = 2.9-15.5; high OR = 11.9, 95% CI = 4.7-30.1). Additionally, those who were older, female, had poor grades, unhealthy dietary habits, an inactive lifestyle, and smoked were more likely to experience high stress.

Conclusions: Gaming addiction is strongly associated with stress among Saudi adolescents.

Keywords: APA, American Psychiatric Association; Adolescents; DASS, Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale; DSM-V, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed.; GAS, Game Addiction Scale; Gaming addiction; IGD, Internet gaming disorder; PSS, Perceived Stress Scale; Perceived stress; Saudi Arabia; WHO, World Health Organization.