Emotional dysregulation predicts problematic gaming in children and youths: a cross-sectional and longitudinal approach
Abstract: Adolescents show a high vulnerability for addictive gaming patterns on the one hand and immature emotion regulation (ER) abilities as a risk factor for mental disorders on the other hand. We investigated the predictive value of ER...
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Abstract: Adolescents show a high vulnerability for addictive gaming patterns on the one hand and immature emotion regulation (ER) abilities as a risk factor for mental disorders on the other hand. We investigated the predictive value of ER difficulties on problematic gaming (PG) considering age groups (children vs. youths) and gender cross-sectionally and prospectively in a representative sample of German adolescents via online survey with two measurement points 14 months apart. General Poisson, logistic, and multinomial regression models were estimated to predict gaming patterns by ER difficulties controlling for age group and gender. Results revealed ER difficulties to be significantly associated with PG. Moreover, subgroup analyses indicated differing ER patterns for children vs. youths and boys vs. girls: for children, higher PG values were associated with emotional awareness and emotional clarity whereas for youths it was the acceptance of emotional responses. Moreover, gender differen
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