Interdependent Effect of Impulsivity, Sensation Seeking and Addictive Behaviour Including Excess Gaming, Facebooking and Internet Abusing

Abstract

Impulsivity has been shown to be related to both substance- and non-substance addictions. In the case of internet gaming addiction, on one hand, higher impulsivity and sensation seeking have been reported in problematic online gamers. On the other hand, problematic online gamers were also identified as introverted, socially anxious, and generally inhibited in social behaviour. This review study tried to investigate and correlate the role of dysfunctional impulsivity and sensation seeking in gaming addiction. Online gamers completed a questionnaire that was advertised online and targeted the core of the gaming community. Internet gaming addiction was measured using the Addiction-Engagement Questionnaire. Dysfunctional impulsivity was measured using the 11 items of Dickman’s (1990) sub-scale of the Impulsivity Inventory. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were calculated for variables and a regression model was constructed using hierarchical linear regression to determine the association between online gaming addiction and dysfunctional impulsivity, while controlling for age, gender, and the frequency of online gaming. A set of chi-square tests were employed to compare the patterns of addiction criteria among highly impulsive addicted gamers and non-impulsive addicted gamers. Dysfunctional impulsivity was a good predictor of gaming addiction (β = .252) which actually explained only about 7% of the addiction variance. Problematic gamers high on impulsivity had similar patterns of addiction criteria as non-impulsive gamers, with only one exception – they had a significantly higher tendency to relapse. There was no role of impulsivity in gaming engagement. The results suggested that dysfunctional impulsivity is a risk factor for online gaming addiction (similar to other addictions), but it does not have prominent explanatory value in itself. Also the results show that problematic gamers high on impulsivity are more prone to relapse and reinstatement.