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Research Indicates Lack of Evidence to Label Gaming a Disorder

Back in May of this year, The World Health Organization officially recognized excessive gaming as a disorder and now new research by professor Andrew Przybylski counters those claims (much like the heaps of research before his).

The new research, on top of finding no evidence linking gaming to mental disorders, has also concluded that gaming habits are more likely to be linked to personal, basic psychological needs:

Professor Andrew Przybylski, director of research at the Oxford Internet Institute and co-author of the study, said previous research into this subject has “failed to examine the wider context of what is going on in these young peoples’ lives.”

“This is something we seek to address with our new study,” he said. “For the first time we apply motivational theory and open science principles to investigate if psychological need satisfactions and frustrations in adolescents’ daily lives are linked to dysregulated — or obsessive — gaming engagement.”

The study found no evidence suggesting that excessive gaming leads to substantial emotional, peer, or behavioural problems. In fact, researchers concluded that gaming habits are more likely reflective of whether basic psychological needs are being met, of if there are wider functioning issues.

“We do not believe sufficient evidence exists to warrant thinking about gaming as a clinical disorder in its own right”

Andrew Przybylski, Oxford Internet Institute

“In light of our findings we do not believe sufficient evidence exists to warrant thinking about gaming as a clinical disorder in its own right,” Przybylski said.

The article then proceeds to explain how the new research was conducted and lists its findings:

“In light of our findings we do not believe sufficient evidence exists to warrant thinking about gaming as a clinical disorder in its own right,” Przybylski said.

By comparing the self-reported gaming habits of adolescents with caregiver-provided information on their child’s emotional and social health, researchers found there was little evidence linking obsessive gaming with negatively impacted adolescent outcomes.

The study also found that most teenagers played at least one online game daily; that less than half of daily online gamers reported symptoms of obsessive gaming; and that daily players spent an average of three hours a day gaming.

WHO’s gaming disorder classification will officially come into effect on the 1st of January, 2022.

Given the extensive research being conducted into debunking the organization’s claims, it’s possible that with enough time and care, the classification will not be officially recognized after all.

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