Anime watching: is a new kind of addiction? Evaluation of psychopathologies and psychosocial factors associated with problematic anime watching among adolescents

Abstract Background In recent years, with the rapid development of technology, research on behavioral addiction concepts such as digital gaming disorders and problematic internet use has increased. As anime-watching has become widespread worldwide, it is thought that this behavior may be one of the areas of problematic technology use, especially in adolescence. However, studies evaluating problematic anime-watching behaviors within the framework of behavioral addictions are quite limited in the literature. In this study, problematic anime-watching behaviors, comorbid psychiatric disorders, and possible psychosocial factors were evaluated in 86 anime watchers aged between 12 and 18 years. Problematic anime-watching behaviors were evaluated according to the diagnostic criteria of other defined disorders related to addictive behaviors in ICD-11. A semi-structured interview tool was used to assess psychiatric comorbidities, and the IGDS9-SF adapted form for anime-watching, the Self-Efficacy Scale for Children, KIDCOPE, and the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents were used to collect other data. Results It was determined that 36.8% of the 86 adolescents in our study had problematic anime-watching behavior. Compared to other adolescents, the problematic anime-watching group had significantly lower self-efficacy scores and significantly higher social anxiety and avoidant coping scores. A significant relationship was found between social anxiety disorder and watching problematic anime. Conclusions The present study showed that problematic watching of anime may be a variant of behavioral addiction. In conclusion, the relationship between problematic anime-watching behaviors and mental health warrants further examination.