A new scale to assess pathological video-gaming among adolescents based on the DSM-V: An-IRT based analysis

Introduction: Video gaming is became very common among adolescents and high levels of game use frequently leads youth to pathological gaming. As a consequence, the assessment of pathological video-gaming is of increasing interest. Nevertheless, due to the lack of consensus about the definition of pathological gaming, there are some concerns in the field of measurement as many of the most widely used instruments were constructed by adapting pathological gambling criteria or using Internet addiction features. Indeed, only recently the American Psychiatric Association (APA) has introduced Internet Gaming Addiction in the Fifth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V, 2013). Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop a new scale (Video-gaming Behavior Scale -VBS) to measure pathological gaming among adolescents. In constructing the items, we referred to the DSM-V diagnostic features for Internet Gaming Addiction, and we applied IRT to investigate the scale’s accuracy along problem gaming severity levels. The validity of the VBS was also investigated taking into account the relationships between pathological gaming and risk seeking behaviors. Methods: The VBS was administered to 384 adolescents past year gamers (Male = 51%, Mean age=17.56, SD=.50). Results: Once attested the one factor structure of the scale, undimensional IRT analyses for polytomous data were applied to evaluate the functioning of the VBS along the pathological gaming continuum. Item parameter estimates and the test information function showed that each item and the global scale satisfactorily measured the latent trait. Specifically, items had different levels of severity ranging from medium to high values and the test accurately measured medium-high gaming severity levels. Additionally, the positive relationship between pathological gaming and risk seeking behaviors provided evidence of the validity of the VBS. Conclusion: The VBS is an effective screening tool to identify adolescents who are pathological gamers.